Kilmarnock Avalanche 7 Paisley Pirates 1
12/4/2003 at Galleon Centre
Scottish National League
This was far from ideal preparation for Pirates next two matches, both cup finals as they slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season with Kilmarnock also joining Edinburgh as the only sides to complete league doubles over Paisley.
Pirates again missing several regulars never settled to the tight confines of the Kilmarnock rink and they went behind in the 6th minute when Tommy Boll found Santi Buesa alone in front of goal. The game exploded in the 10th minute when Stuart Swiatek and Iain Crockatt went toe to toe, with the Avalanche man taking six minutes worth of penalties to the Pirate’s four, thus giving Paisley the game’s first powerplay. This, however, backfired on them, Boll doubling the score in the 11th minute on a shorthanded breakaway. Worse was to follow with Richard Thorp netting twice before the first break.
Both sides traded powerplay opportunities at the start of the second period, but neither bore any fruit. The only goal of the session came soon after in the 26th minute, Boll taking advantage of a giveaway in the Pirates zone, to net his second of the evening. Pirates dominated the remainder of the period, save for a couple of late powerplays for Avalanche, but never looked like breaking their duck.
Pirates had to kill another powerplay at the start of the final session but having successfully done so, they then set about achieving the improbable and when Swiatek fired home in the 46th minute, briefly they had hope. Their fortunes took another dip in the 47th minute when Mark Steele clashed with Buesa but only the Pirate received a penalty, a 10 minute personal misconduct. This seemed to finally break Pirates and this was confirmed in the 50th minute when Ryan Findlay forced home goal number six. The scoring was completed two minutes later with Boll again breaking clear to complete his hat trick. Pirates attempted to make a fight of it but again without success and time ran out without further incident.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Paisley: Stuart Swiatek Kilmarnock: Richard Thorp
SCORING:
Paisley: Swiatek 1+0, Monson, Steele 0+1
Kilmarnock: Boll 3+2, Thorp 2+1, Buesa, Findlay 1+1, C. Connor 0+2, P. Connor, Jameson, McKay 0+1
NETMINDING:
Paisley: Orr 61 shots/7 goals Kilmarnock: Gooding 50 shots/1 goal
PENALTIES:
Paisley: Steele 10 minutes, Miller, Swiatek 4, Bench minor, Clark 2
Kilmarnock: Crockatt 6, Thorp 2