Braehead Clan Head Coach Ryan Finnerty was pleased with Sunday’s win against Fife Flyers – but was left dissatisfied at the weekend overall.
Clan threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to the Flyers on Saturday, before winning 3-0 at home the following day. Finnerty revealed a pre-match meeting before the home game gave the opportunity for some honesty amongst the team.
He said: “I thought we came out pretty hard and we put a lot of pressure on our guys. I’m not too happy with the win one, lose one scenario and the way we lost in Fife was unacceptable.
“We collapsed in the final period and didn’t have a lot of pressure to answer back, which left a bitter taste in the mouth.
“Ahead of the game on Sunday we had a meeting and spoke some harsh truths about the situation. The fans and management won’t accept it and there’s no point looking around – we have to man up.
“We played solid on Sunday, with a 3-0 scoreline and we’ll continue to work on it. We have a home run coming up and we have to take advantage of it, starting with the two games next week.
“While I’m happy with the win, I’m still not happy with the weekend overall as we let points slip away.”
Consistency is the one thing missing, said the Clan coach and highlighted that it’s been an issue across the league in a season that has thrown up some strange scorelines.
Finnerty said he’s sympathetic to the fans because of the expectation heaped on his team after the success of last season, where Braehead finished second in the Elite League.
He added: “When we look at the table and where we could have been, it’s frustrating to realise that if you win the games in hand you could be amongst the top spots.
“We want to control our own destiny and we’re just not getting the consistency to be able to do that.
“It’s a weird season and we’ve seen a 20-goal game in Edinburgh, a 9-8 game in Braehead a couple of weeks ago and other strange scores across the teams.
“It’s hard for someone like me to get my head around and I’ve been here for around 10 years, so I can understand the frustration of the fans.
“You just don’t know what you’re getting in this league, which is a good thing, but there is expectation on us and after the success of the last year, that’s the price of it.”
(Image permission: Al Goold Photo)
