OAL BLITZ GIVES PIRATES REVENGE
Paisley Pirates 10
Kilmarnock Avalanche 3

TWO weeks ago the Avalanche landed on Pirates, to inflict the first defeat of the season on Paisley’s pride.

Revenge therefore was sweet, as the Kilmarnock men were buried under a blizzard of goals in the first round of the Spring Cup.Both teams were without key players, but the absence of Tommy Boll, their undoubted star man, definitely hurt Killie more as Pirates stuck to the game plan and made their strength count.

Whirlwind

The home team, roared on by an excellent 400-plus crowd, struck quickly, finding the net through John Churchill after only 54 seconds. Stewart McLaughlin added a second at 1.15, James Clark claimed the first of his hat trick 7.012 and in a whirlwind, end-to-end start, Pirates were in charge.

Both netminders were kept busy in the first 20 minutes, but Pirates’ shooting was sharper and their fourth goal arrived at 17.45, courtesy of Colin McMillan, to complete the first period scoring.

The second period began like the first. With just 50 seconds on the clock, Clarky chalked up his second of the night, with his third coming less than one minute later, at 21.19.

Quietened

With Pirates 6-0 up things ought to have quietened down, but, didn’t. At 33.24 Killie’s Scott Cowan checked Colin McMillan from behind resulting in penalties for both players, with Pirates’ Gordon Nelson picking up a game misconduct penalty for defending his team mate.

Gary Smith calmed things down, however, when he added number seven for the Pirates at 37.20, with Stuart Miller on a power play adding Pirates eighth goal at 38.40 to complete the second period scoring.

Whitewash

Period three got off to a slow start. It took Pirates a full seven minutes to score goal number nine, bagged by John Churchill.

Leading 9-0, Pirates had high hopes of a double figures whitewash. However, netminder John Russell’s hopes of a “goose egg” or clean sheet were ended at 47.56, when Mark Brown netted.

Ross McWhirter, on the power play scored their second at 50.16, with Spanish internationalist Santiago Buesa, at exactly 52 minutes scored the visitors’ third goal.

This spurred on Pirates and Stuart Miller fired home goal number ten at 54.18 to complete the scoring in what was a very entertaining evening for the hockey fans.

Shots on goal - John Russell (Pirates): 37; C Gooding (Avalanche): 40.
Scorers - Paisley: J Clark 3+2, J Churchill and S Miller 2+2, G Smith and S McLaughlin 1+1, C McMillan 1+0, M Andrews 0+2, B Taylor and G Morris 0+1.
Kilmarnock: S Buesa 1+1, R McWhirter and M Brown 1+1, P Connor and R McGinlay 0+1