Paisley Pirates’ boss Ian Turley has challenged his team to end the regular season on a high after seeing their SNL title hopes all but ended last weekend.
Pirates’ 6-5 defeat at Edinburgh Capitals on Sunday left them two points behind Kirkcaldy Kestrels with just one game remaining.
Kestrels are big favourites to win their final match at home to Moray Typhoons on Saturday, with the Pirates hoping for an unlikely helping hand if they’re to claim the title.
Turley’s team host Dundee Tigers on Sunday and the Pirates’ coach is frustrated with how the season has panned out.
“We played very well against Kilmarnock Storm on Saturday and took our chances with the kind of ruthlessness and sharpness that you need to have to win titles,” he said.
“I don’t think we played badly in Edinburgh on Sunday either. You have to factor in other elements when you go to play there after an EIHL match, but it wasn’t that defeat which finished off our chances of finishing top.
“It was other dropped points in matches we might have been expected to win earlier on in the season which did for us.
“You have to win your home matches regularly to have any sort of chance of winning the league, and we’ve done that, but it’s what you do on the road which separates the winners and losers.
“Our away form just hasn’t been good enough, so we didn’t win, and on that basis we can have no complaints about how things have turned out. Four wins and a draw from nine road trips doesn’t win you anything.
“We’ve now got a very difficult home match against Dundee Tigers to finish off our regular season.
“They actually did what we couldn’t do last weekend, by beating the Caps in Edinburgh not long ago, which is all we need as a reminder that we’re in for another tough night.
“Yes, we know we’re in the play-offs, but we also want to keep our run of form going at this very important time of the season.
“Our supporters have enjoyed seeing us win on every outing so far at home, so we want to keep that habit going.”
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday
Aberdeen Lynx v Solway Sharks SNL
Dundee Comets v Kilmarnock Storm
Kirkcaldy Kestrels v Moray Typhoons
Sunday
Paisley Pirates v Dundee Tigers
Solway Sharks SNL v Edinburgh Capitals SNL
(Image permission: Al Goold Photo)
