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 On Sunday evening the Solway Sharks met the Braehead
Paisley Pirates in the second leg of their Scottish Cup
quarter-final tie. With the reward for victory being a
semi-final against lower league opposition both sides could see
a possible cup final on the horizon and with the Sharks holding
a slender two goal lead from the first leg neither side felt that
the
tie was anywhere near decided.
The Sharks were the first team to exert any real pressure on the
opposition and Findlay in the Paisley goal had to be alert early
to save low to his left from Anthony Payne and then on the five
minute mark a slapshot by John Downes from the blueline tested
him once more. Gradually the Pirates began to claw their way back
into the match and while play swung from end to end it was
the visitors who were gradually getting on top and Dewar
Anderson in the home goal had to be alert to save from Cowan and McCaig. Cowan was to cause problems for the home defence again
in the twelfth minute as Anderson was forced to save low to his
right and it took a combination of the keeper and Struan Tonnar
to deny McCamley as he followed up.
A
delaying the game penalty call on the Sharks netminder on the
fifteen minute mark negated a Sharks powerplay with Conaboy in
the ‘sin bin’ for the visitors. A holding call on John Churchill
meant that the visitors would have a five on three powerplay for
thirty seconds followed by a single man advantage for over a
minute. This was going to be a crucial time for the home side as
a Paisley goal now would throw the tie wide open. As the Pirates
pressed McCaig suddenly found himself free with just the keeper
to beat but Anderson somehow managed to get a glove on his shot
and knock it into the air. But the danger wasn’t over as the
puck looked likely to land dangerously close to the goal-line
but luckily for the Sharks Ian Defty was aware of the danger and
he knocked it down with his glove before clearing his lines.
Seconds later Anderson was called into action again with a fine
double save, low to his right from Conaboy and with his pads
from Cowan on the rebound. Even with the powerplay over Paisley
piled on the pressure and Ian Defty had to block a shot from
Thorp with his body before John Downes immediately had to make a
block from the same player which cost the Sharks defenceman his
two front teeth. With seconds to go in the period it was the
home side who nearly made the breakthrough as John Churchill
found Bobby Chalmers but the Paisley netminder parried his shot
causing a goalmouth scramble before he was able to dive on the
puck and smother the danger.
 Immediately from face-off to start the second period Solway
went onto the attack and Anthony Payne was inches from finding
Mark Gallagher in open ice but Paisley picked up possession and
went on the counter attack and McCamley forced Anderson into
another fine save low to the keepers left. A Hassan snap-shot
then caused consternation in the home defence before the puck
was finally cleared. Two minutes into the period Kevin Conway
picked up possession on the back boards before returning out and
along the goal line. Finding everyone tightly marked the affable
Canadian took the responsibility on himself and, from an
extremelt tight angle, fired a vicious
shot high into the net at the keepers near post With the deadlock broken the Sharks went
for the kill and Findlay had to be at his best to save from Mark
Gallagher and Fraser Goldie in quick succession. But the Pirates
were not to be quietened for long as Cowan picked up a loose
puck three yards out from the Sharks goal and looked set to
score for the visitors before Alan Crane came from nowhere to block
the danger.
Once again with the bit between their teeth the Paisley began to
pressurise the Solway goal and Anderson was forced to save with
his glove hand from McCaig and with his pads from a Simpson shot
from the blueline. Then Wallace was sent clear through on goal for the
visitors but the Sharks netminder had his angles well covered
and the Pirate shot tamely wide. A penalty against Simpson for
interference gave the Sharks another powerplay just after the
mid-way point in the match but resolute defending reduced the
Sharks attack to one long range shot from Ian Defty which was
well saved by Findlay. The physical side of the Pirates game
came to the surface when Conaboy clipped Corrie Telfer injuring
the Sharks forwards arm as he fell but the referee somehow
managed to miss the call and the Paisley player went
unpunished. As time ticked towards the second intermission it
was the home side who were generally on top but late pressure
from the visitors resulted in a blocked shot from Wallace
causing a goalmouth scramble in which Anderson was eventually
able to get down and smother the danger.
If the Pirates were to get back into this tie then they needed
to score early in the final period and they came out with all
guns blazing but the Sharks were ready and the home defence
handled the pressure well. Within three minutes they
 were back
on the attack themselves and a pass from Kevin Conway just
failed to find Mark Gallagher in front of the Paisley net. But
the visitors were only able to half clear the puck to Anthony
Payne on the left-hand boards. He picked out Gallagher at the
back post with a pinpoint pass and the Sharks forward finished
low to the keepers left to put the home side four ahead on
aggregate. To their credit Paisley never stopped trying to find
a way back into the game and the Sharks were happy to soak up
the pressure with relative ease and counter attack when the
opportunity was available. Another clip by Conaboy, this time on
Cammy Currie, again went unpunished by the referee as the
visitors frustration grew. With twelve minutes left to play
Wallace picked up a pass from defence and sped towards the
Sharks goal but Ian Defty aware of the danger threw himself full
length along the ice to knock the puck away to safety. While
both sides had periods of pressure and half chances in the
remaining minutes this was to prove the last serious scoring
chance for either team.
The Sharks scoring statistics on the night were as follows:
Kevin Conway one goal and no assists, Mark Gallagher 1+0 and
Anthony Payne 0+1. Dewar Anderson (pictured above right) had a perfect night saving all
twenty-seven shots that he faced, the first shut-out for a
Sharks netminder since the 17th of September last year against
the North Ayr Bruins. The Bell Electrical
man-of-the-match for the Sharks was Dewar Anderson while Stuart McCaig received the honour for the visitors. The Sharks now
await the winners of the tie between Aberdeen Lynx and the
Dundee Tigers in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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