PIRATES’ FINAL PUSH

After a weekend off over the Easter period, Paisley Pirates now enter a critical stage in their season, beginning with the second leg of their Playoff Quarter Final against the Dundee Tigers this Sunday at Braehead Arena (face off 6.00pm), with the winners going through to the finals weekend only six days later.

“I suppose most folk will see us as shoe ins for the final stages, as we’re carrying a lead from the first leg in Dundee a fortnight ago, but we’re not looking at it that way at all,” said coach Ian Turley. “The Tigers narrowly missed out on a Scottish Cup Final date with us in mid April, only losing out on penalties at Edinburgh last weekend, so that gives an indication of what they’re capable of. They’ll be hurting at being so close to a Cup Final place, so we have to prepare for the game like any other and look to perform to the standards we’ve set ourselves this season.”

“Ice hockey can throw up some strange results, and anything can happen in sixty minutes, so we’ll be going out to show we deserve to be in the playoff weekend. Anything else would be unacceptable and we owe it to our supporters to put on a performance for them in our last home game of the season. We’re looking for the fans to get right behind us on Sunday at Braehead, as we go into the first of hopefully three very important weekends, so the least they can expect is that we play not just to my expectations this Sunday, but theirs as well. There are no second chances at this stage of the year.”

He went on, “We’re in a position that every other team would love to be in at this time of the year, so it’s up to us to work hard in training this week, go out and do the business on Sunday, then see where we are after that. We are very aware of all the support we receive not just from fans, but a whole range of people and agencies who help keep the club going, and this is a wonderful chance to pay them back for all that backing. Like I say, there have been a few strange looking results posted in the last fortnight, and we certainly don’t want to add to that list, so I’ll be doing everything in my power to make sure we give it our best shot on Sunday, and continue to have so many people proud of us!”