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 The Sharks were on their travels on Saturday night
as they visited the Braehead Paisley Pirates in a vital SPHL match-up.
With the internal upheavals and the departure of
head coach Kevin Doherty this always looked like it
was going to be a struggle for the Sharks and
interim head coach John Downes.
The match
started with Paisley keen to capitalise on their
home ice advantage and from the opening face off
they raced into the attack and Dewar Anderson in the
Sharks goal had to be on his toes to divert several
goal-bound early efforts past his goal as the visitors
struggled to find their usual poise and rhythm. It
was no real surprise when the Pirates opened their
account in the third minute when the Sharks failed
to clear possession when the opportunity arose. The
loose puck found Wilson close to the right-hand
boards and he drifted inside across the face of the
goal before lifting his shot back over the diving
netminder. The
Sharks had their first serious chance in the twelfth
minute when Corrie Telfer collected a loose pass in
the Paisley “D” and closed in on the keeper,
unfortunately for the Sharks Downie had his angles
well covered and saved easily. Solway were beginning
to find their feet when loose play in defence again
cost them dear. John Ballentyne, usually "Mr
Reliable", had the puck behind his own goal, as he
looked for the best option McCaig quickly closed him
down and blocked the clearance. The puck then fell
kindly to McCaig who took it in on goal and beat
Anderson from close range. Seconds later it was
three-nil when Simpson fed McCamley in defence and
the later skated at speed up the rink before burying
his shot into the Solway net. Forty-five seconds
later three became four when Fowley and Orr combined well
to create the opportunity for Wallace to add his
name to the score sheet.
 In the
second period interim coach John Downes quite
rightly gave himself more ice time than he had
previously allowed himself and this went a long way
towards steadying the defence. At the same time the
Pirates reverted to a more defensive game plan in
order to protect their advantage but despite several
good attacking moves from Tonnar there was to be no
score in the second period. The Sharks continued
their mini-revival in the third period but despite
their efforts they didn’t trouble the home keeper
until they received a powerplay mid-way through the
session. After patient build-up play Bari McKenzie
passed the puck back-handed from behind the net out
to Mark Gallagher and he found a clinical finish to
put the Sharks on the score sheet. Overall it was a
lacklustre performance from Solway who clearly
missed the experience of the more experienced senior
players who were missing on the night.
Sharks scoring statistics on the
night were as follows; Mark Gallagher one goal and
no assists, Bari McKenzie 0+1. Dewar Anderson saved
thirty-seven of the forty-one shots that he faced
for a save percentage of 90.24%.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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