PAISLEY PIRATES 1 – MURRAYFIELD RACERS 12

Pirates suffered one of their heaviest home defeats in recent years as they crashed 12-1 to a strong visiting side who ruthlessly took them apart in a one sided game at Braehead Arena on Sunday night.

The home side actually took the lead through Conor Duncan in the 7th minute and while the visitors scored almost from the resulting face off, and then added a late goal to go in at the break 2-1 ahead, Pirates had essentially matched the Edinburgh side for the first twenty minutes, to leave the large crowd with an expectation of more to follow in the later stages.

However, that hope came to nothing, as Racers came out for the middle session and effectively took the game away from Pirates with no fewer than FIVE unanswered goals in a miserable period for the home side, where they were unable to show any of the vigour which had marked their play in the opening period. The third session became a repeat of the second session horror show, with the visitors again scoring five goals without reply, as Boyd and Ireland helped themselves to seven of the dozen goals conceded on a night which the home fans will want to forget in a hurry.

Player/coach Adam Walker said after the game,” We competed well in the first period but had nothing to offer for the last two sessions. We simply had nothing to offer and you can’t afford to do that against any team, far less one as strong as Murrayfield.. The team appears to be lacking confidence at the moment and we need to address that quickly.”

Pirates are back at Braehead Arena this Sunday when they play the rapidly improving Dundee Tigers in a match which faces off at 4.30pm.