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 The Solway Sharks, sponsored by
Border Utilities, headed into their Christmas break with two
Northern League encounters last weekend and found themselves
somewhat unlucky to come away with two close defeats which could
easily have been victories on another day. They do however have
the opportunity of redressing Sunday nights defeat to Whitley
Warriors when they return to action against the same side on
Saturday the 29th of December at Dumfries Ice Bowl, face-off is
at 7:30p.m.
The home side began Saturday
nights match briskly against a short-benched Blackburn side but
it was the home defence who were called into action first when
John Downes was forced into a last second block to deny Kurtis
Hall. But the eager Sharks side replied immediately as Kevin
Conway fired in a wicked wrist-shot which Russell was just able
to deflect wide of the Hawks goal. The home defence were given a
wake-up call on the four minute mark when an O’Reilly pass was
deflected by Harry Hall onto Scott McMeeken’s left-hand post
before the defence smuggled the rebound away to safety. Four
minutes later Solway had a gilt-edged chance to open the scoring
when John Downes found Shaun Kippin in a crowd in front of the
visitors net. The Sharks forward managed to get his shot on
target but Russell, in the Hawks goal, pulled of an amazing
block before the Blackburn took the rebound up the right wing
and Lomax tried a wrap-around shot that skidded off the top of
the crossbar. But the opener wasn’t to be much longer in
arriving. In the tenth minute a Gordon Horne pass found Kevin
Conway free eight yards from goal but Russell, once again, did
wonders to parry his shot, this time, however, the rebound fell
to Anthony Payne and he made no mistake.
In the twelfth minute Solway
looked sure to extend their lead as a scramble around the
Blackburn goal saw Kippin, Seddon and Euan Edgar all managed
shots on target but none could find a channel into the Hawks
net. With 14:49 on the clock missed chances came back to cost
Solway dear as Blackburn scored an equaliser, somewhat against
the run of play. Dunford found Hall on the right-hand boards and
he took his time before setting up O’Reilly in front of the
Sharks net from where he made no mistake. The Sharks were eager
to regain their advantage before the first intermission and
pressurised the Hawks goal but with just fifteen seconds left it
was the visitors on the attack as a good shot from Bentham was
saved by Scott McMeeken’s pads. The Sharks took the rebound
straight up centre-ice where Anthony Payne tested the visiting
netminders’ reactions with a slapshot from the blueline but
Russell saved well once more and the teams headed into the first
break on level terms.
 The second session started with
Solway on the attack once more and a break up the left wing saw
Alan Crane feed the puck inside to Corrie Telfer who went
through on goal but Russell was well placed to block the shot.
Seconds later a high clearance from the Blackburn ‘D’ found
Derbyshire one-on-one with the Sharks netminder but McMeeken
covered his angles well and was able to smother the shot. Solway
continued to press for the breakthrough and almost found it in
the thirty-fourth minute when some amazing stick-work from
Anthony Payne took him out of a crowd of players and won him the
space to feed Kevin Conway, but once more Russell equal to the
shot. Unfortunately for the Sharks Derbyshire immediately broke
up the left wing and his pass inside found Kurtis Hall in open
space in front of the net and the youngster converted easily.
Eager to get back on level terms the Sharks were immediately
back on the attack and Telfer went around behind the goal to
feed Tim McKay who looked to have prodded home the equalised but
Russell somehow managed to tip the puck wide.
Minutes later an icing call on
Solway saw them defending a face-off in their own ‘D’ from which
Blackburn won possession. In a scramble around the home goal a
Bentham shot was deflected into the path of Kurtis Hall and for
the second time that night the Hawks forward found the back of
the net. On the balance of play there was no way that the Sharks
should have been behind and a further period of sustained
pressure from the home side eventually paid dividends. John
Ballentyne, wide on the right-hand boards, found Tim McKay free
eight yards from goal and he lifted a wrist-shot over the diving
Russell to hand the Sharks a life-line going into the second
intermission. Throughout the final period Solway strove to find
an equaliser but the Blackburn defence stood firm throughout and
whenever the Sharks did manage to break through they found
Russell impossible to beat. In a final effort to force overtime
Solway played most of the final two minutes without their
netminder but even with six skaters against them the visiting
defence looked solid.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks
on the night were as follows: Anthony Payne and Tim McKay one
goal and no assists, Kevin Conway, Gordon Horne and John
Ballentyne all 0+1. Scott McMeeken in the Solway goal saved
fourteen of the seventeen shots that he faced (Save percentage
82.35%). The Elite Display man-of-the-match for the Sharks was
Tim McKay while Gary Russell unsurprisingly took that honour for
Blackburn. Referee, Andy Allsopp, had an excellent game and,
while hid did miss some incidents (as every referee will) he
tried to let the game flow at all times.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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