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The Border Utilities sponsored Solway Sharks opened their
2007/08 Northern League campaign when they travelled up to
Kirkcaldy on Saturday night to take on the Fife Flyers. On paper
this looked to be one of the hardest fixtures on the Sharks
schedule as Fife, beaten just twice in two years, had already
posted four impressive victories in the current season.
The game started brightly for the Sharks and an early spell of
pressure brought a penalty when Muir was called for hooking.
With the man advantage Solway passed the puck around the ice
patiently as they sought to find a chink in the home defence.
But midway through the powerplay disaster struck the visitors as
Steven King latched onto a loose pass and skated at speed up the
centre of the rink before lifting the puck into the top right
hand corner of the net. The Sharks almost levelled the scores
seconds later as defenceman John Ballentyne fired a long shot
from the blueline towards the Flyers goal but netminder Blair
Daly had it covered.
 With
seven and a half minutes on the clock Solway netminder Dewar
Anderson was penalised for holding and, as Ross Edgar sat out the
penalty for him, it looked like the Sharks would score a
short-handed goal of their own. Tim McKay robbed a Fife forward
in his own defensive zone and, like King before him, sped up the
centre of the rink. But unfortunately Daly had his angles judged
perfectly and was able to smother the Carlisle man’s shot. By
now the Flyers had their tails up and the Sharks were mostly
reduced to defending in depth and relying on the occasional
break-away to relieve the almost constant pressure. So it was of
no surprise to anyone in the crowd when Fife added to their
advantage when the goal-scorer turned provider. King, wide on the
right, fed Dan McIntyre ten yards out from the centre of the
goal and he unleashed a thunderbolt which netminder Dewar
Anderson did well to get a glove to. Unfortunately for the
Sharks netminder the force of the shot spun the puck out of his
grasp and he could only watch in despair as it trickled into the
goal. For the remainder of the period the two sides traded
penalties and, while there was no lack of effort, there were no
real chances for either side. The shot count of seventeen to
five in Fife’s favour was a fair reflection of the game so far.
The second period started with an early powerplay to the Sharks
and Ballentyne immediately tested Daly with a powerful slapshot
from the left wing but the keeper deflected the puck to safety
with the glove of his stick hand. As the players fought for
possession on the boards Muir was penalised for interference
giving the Sharks a five on three man advantage. It was crucial
period for the Sharks, if they had any hopes of clawing their
way back into this match then it was imperative that they score
now and make use of their two man advantage. As the puck was
passed around the Fife defensive area it fell to John Downes and
he shot from close to the blueline towards the top right-hand
corner of the goal but once again Daly came to the Flyers rescue
as he somehow managed to tip the puck onto the bar. Within
seconds the two man advantage was halved as Downes was penalised
for interference but Neal Haworth still managed to test Daly
once more from distance before the powerplay ended.
However, the Flyers were heartened by the successful penalty
kill and went on the offensive themselves and when a pass from
Samuel found Wands wide on the right and he shot into the Sharks
goal through a ruck of players. Another extended spell of Fife
pressure followed during which Anderson did well to deflect a
shot from King onto the bar. A measure of the confidence flowing
through the Flyers was that even when Wands was penalised for
interference it was the Fife side that looked like they had the
man advantage. Midway through the match Scott McMeeken replaced
Anderson in the Solway goal and within a minute he was beaten as
the Flyers produced a goal of sheer class. Samuel collected the
puck centre-ice and skated behind the Sharks goal where he looked
up and considered his options. First he threw a neat dummy
before
retraced his steps, skated around a Sharks defender and laid off
a perfect pass to Lynch in open space six yards from goal. The
big utility man drew McMeeken forward and then deftly lifted the
puck over the keeper into the roof of the net.
 The
Sharks refused to throw in the towel and set about attacking the
Fife goal where Daly did well to parry a shot from Churchill and
then dive forward, full-length, to smother the rebound himself.
At one point it seemed that only penalties could halt the
Flyers progress as the home crowd became ever more disgruntled
with what they perceived as erratic penalty calling from the
referee. In the thirty-fourth minute McMeeken was forced to make
a fine save low to his right as King broke clear and threatened
to add his second short-handed goal of the night. But as the
period drifted towards its conclusion the Flyers added to their
advantage as Beattie, from wide on the left-hand boards, found
Fleming free in the centre and he finished well.
During the second intermission Jordan Marr replaced Blair Daly
in the Fife goal but any hopes that he rmay have been easier to beat
were dispelled as he made several competent saves within his
first few minutes on the ice. Five minutes into the final
session Lynch gathered a long pass from Mitchell on the right
and doubled back towards his own goal before swinging across the
ice and cutting in towards the Sharks goal. From just inside the
blueline he fired the puck into the top right-hand corner of the
Sharks goal to put the home side ahead by six. Six became seven
in the fifty-fourth minute when Lynch completed his hat-trick
after good build-up play from Wilson and McIntyre. With three
minutes left to play Tim McKay broke out of defence and raced
up the right wing before holding the puck as he waited for
support. John Churchill was the first to arrive and when McKay
threaded a pass through to him the big forward made no mistake
as he slotted home Solway’s consolation goal.
On the day Fife proved that they are an extremely well-drilled,
professional unit with a liberal helping of quality throughout
and while they may sometimes miss the moments of magic that John
Haig could produce they have found a more than competent
replacement in Steven Lynch. Solway Sharks statistics from the
match were as follows; John Churchill one goal and no assists,
Tim McKay 0+1. Dewar Anderson saved 19 of the 22 shots that he
faced, save percentage 86.36% and Scott McMeeken (replaced
Anderson 30:08) saved 15 of the 19 shots that he faced, save
percentage 78.95%. Man of the match for the Sharks was John
Churchill while Steven Lynch picked up the award for the Flyers.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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