Paisley Pirates take a break from league action this weekend as they playback to back Scottish Cup ties against Kirkcaldy Kestrels on Saturday and Sunday. They are away to the Fife side in the first leg, before returning to Braehead Arena for the second and deciding leg 24 hours later (face off 4.30pm).
The club has faced a difficult time in recent weeks and will be hoping that a change of competition will see them return to something like their best form. Player/coach Adam Walker commented, “Kestrels have improved since we last played them and they had a good result in Aberdeen last Saturday, so we need to be ready to face them.”
Pirates put up a gutsy performance last Sunday against the Solway Sharks, and will be hoping that two similar displays over both nights will allow them to progress to the next stage of the competition. After a few average home displays in recent weeks, the last few home games have shown some signs of better things returning, and they will be hoping to see more improvement at the weekend.
In spite of the final score, this was another improved performance by Pirates against a team of semi-professional players, with Sharks’ import Heiskanen making a major difference to the outcome with no fewer than five goals in an entertaining game.
Pirates competed well with their opponents in the opening session and actually went ahead after two minutes on the powerplay as Spiers deflected a slapshot from Hamilton behind Johnston for the opener. Sharks came back within a few minutes and were level when Gapa scored, but Pirates responded in style and were back in front half a minute later as Harju broke down the left wing and flicked the puck beyond Johnston again to restore his team’s narrow advantage. This caused the Sharks to up the tempo as they levelled through the first of Haiskanen’s goals at the halfway point and Horne beat Morris before the flying Finn netted his second in the space of a minute to put the visitors 4-2 ahead at the first interval.
Pirates continued to put up a fight in the second session, although they were minus several key players, and made it a one goal game before the 25th minute as a flowing move involving Huber and Andreucci finished with Kenneth netting to make it 4-3. Henderson replied for the visitors before the halfway point to stretch the lead to two, before a quickfire double by Haiskanen and Houston took the score to 7-3 and probably ended in lingering hopes of an upset, taking the Sharks to 7-3 by the second break.
The home side continued to battle in the final session but could not match the clinical finishing of their opponents, as Haiskanen rounded off the scoring with a double in the final twenty minutes, to take the final score to 9-3, perhaps not an undeserved margin at the end, but maybe leaving Pirates feeling the final margin was somewhat unflattering in view of their efforts over the 60 minutes.
Pirates’ player/coach Adam Walker said after the match,*The boys battled hard and certainly put in the effort, but we’re still a bit away from where we want to be.”
Pirates next play Kirkcaldy Kestrels in a Scottish Cup quarter final (second leg) tie next Sunday at 4.30pm at Braehead, having played the first leg in Fife 24 hours earlier.
A seven-year-old boy amazed shoppers at intu Braehead with a virtuoso display on a piano that’s been placed in the mall.
Youngster Nathan Lee was described as a “genius” after he climbed on to the stool at the piano and gave people an impromptu mini-concert.
A crowd gathered around the piano in the upper mall between Marks and Spencer and Café Nero and gave Nathan a round of applause after a faultless, performance of Mozart’s Turkish March; Flight of the Bumblebee, by Rimsky Korsakov and the more modern ballad, All of Me, by John Legend.
Amazingly, Nathan, from Glenburn, in Paisley has only been playing the piano and taking lessons for two years and his school friends at Glasgow Academy have already dubbed him King of the Piano.
The youngster was at intu Braehead with his mum and dad, Ning and Eddie, who runs the Kwang Tung Chinese restaurant, in Paisley. When Nathan started playing shoppers couldn’t believe how good he was and stopped to video the youngster.
When he finished people coming over to his parents to tell them how brilliant their son was on the piano.
One woman said: “That boy of yours – he’s a genius.”
Another man in the cafe told them: “That’s an amazing talent he has. I can’t believe he’s so young and can play the piano like that.”
A woman added: “I’ve never seen anything like it. The speed of his fingers going over the piano keys was mind-boggling and he’s so small his feet couldn’t even reach the ground when he was siting on the stool.”
Nathan’s dad Eddie said: “We don’t know where he gets the talent to play the piano from because neither his mum nor I are very musical.
“We noticed Nathan liked the piano because when he was younger every time he passed a piano he wanted to try to play it. We decided to get him lessons and it’s just gone on from there.
“After about a year having lessons we began to realise just how good he was, as he was then able to play full tunes and he sounded great.
“At the start, nobody at his school knew he could play piano, but at the end of Primary One when all the children were to perform something, Nathan said he would play the piano.
“That’s when we got a phone call from his teacher to say everybody was stunned how good he was. And then the older pupils started calling him King of the piano. We’re really proud of him.”
Eddie added: “We don’t know if he’ll go on to be a professional musician because although he can practise up to three hours some days, he says he wants to be a footballer when he grows up!”
Nathan’s piano teacher, Charles Dunn said: “Nathan has a rare musicality for his age and exciting potential. I also see a maturity in his playing, a remarkable enthusiasm and work ethic and he just loves performing
“He’s fantastic and I’m really proud of him.”
David Lyon, intu Braehead’s marketing manager said: “When Nathan started playing and our security staff saw the people stopping to listen to him play, word soon spread that there was an amazing boy playing the piano and everybody has been talking about him.
“We always like to bring a little fun and entertainment for visitors to intu Braehead and the piano that’s in the mall is self-playing, as well as being able to be played normally. Nathan is an amazing talent and the shoppers loved him.”
MARGARET Calderwood used to make a five-hour round trip bus journey to visit her favourite fashion store, Joules, in St Andrews, Fife.
But now she’s delighted as the 65-year-old can now WALK from her home in Renfrew to the newly-opened Joules store at intu Braehead.
Margaret yesterday (Wednesday July 27) queued for more than an hour outside the store in the upper mall to make sure she was the first customer through the doors when the fashion retailer opened at 10am.
Around 50 people were also waiting for the store to open and Margaret was rewarded with a £200 Joules gift card, as the next four customers were given a £100 gift card with a £50 gift card going to the next 15 customers.
Margaret said: “I’m a big fan of Joules and I love the clothes they sell. I’ve been buying from them for years.
“I used to travel by bus to their store in St Andrew’s to buy clothes and outfits because I like their fashion styles and the quality of what they sell.
“It’s amazing they have now opened at intu Braehead because that’s not far from where I live and I can now walk to the centre and visit the Joules store. Since they’re so close I’ll be visiting them more often now.”
The intu Braehead Joules is the company’s second standalone store in Scotland.
Andrea Gray, Chief Retail Officer at Joules said: “We’re excited to be strengthening our presence in Scotland and we know intu Braehead is exactly the right place for us to be.”
Marketing manager at intu Braehead, David Lyon said: “Well done to Margaret for being first customer through the doors of the new Joules store.
“And it’s great to hear she won’t need to make such a trek to visit her favourite fashion retailer.
Joules is a fantastic addition to the wide mix of retail brands we already have at intu Braehead. It will certainly appeal to our style-conscious shoppers.”
Pirates suffered the massive disappointment of losing in overtime after a thriller of a game had finished 4-4 in the regulation sixty minutes.
In a tight opening session, neither side was able to find their way to the net, although the home side came closest to doing so as they twice struck the post in the space of thirty seconds, thus resulting in a blank scoreline at the end of twenty minutes.
The second period began with a bang, as Pirates took the lead after only 26 seconds, Thorp bundling the puck over the line for the opener. Within four minutes it was 2-0, as Henderson and Thorp combined with Abercrombie to give the latter a straightforward job to beat Maliinson and double the advantage. Back came the Tigers, however, as first McLeod and then McIntosh pulled the visitors right back into the game at 2-2 by the second break, setting up a nail biter for the final twenty minutes.
Both teams set out for the go ahead goal in the final session but Pirates were continuing to incur the wrath of referee Elliott and were obliged to kill off a number of penalties as they had done throughout the game, which broke their momentum at crucial periods. They suffered a heavy blow after 44 minutes when player/coach Walker took no less than 14 minutes in penalties after querying a call made by the official, but they still managed to take the lead after 50 minutes as Blair smashed a shot beyond Mallinson for 3-2. Tigers were level again through a powerplay goal from Paul Henderson within two minutes, but half a minute later Pirates were in front again through Wallace. With 20 seconds to go Tigers pulled Mallinson for the extra skater and the move paid immediate dividends as Guilcher scored straight from a face off to tie the scores again.
With the match going into 3 on 3 sudden death overtime, Tigers got the crucial winner, after another disputed call, to send them home with the extra point.
Head Coach Ian Turley said after the game, “I very rarely comment on referees as they have a difficult job but tonight I felt we suffered from big calls which were either not made, or went against us. When you’re playing 3 on 3 and you don’t get a call for a clear penalty it can leave you out of position and that cost us dear tonight. I thought we played better than in the last few weeks and the crowd certainly made a difference as the noise level was noticeably louder.”
Pirates next home match is against Solway Sharks this Sunday at Braehead Arena, face off 4.30pm.
Anyone unable to visit a polling station on the day of the election is being reminded to register for a postal vote, with the application deadline arriving at 5pm on Tuesday 26 November.
Once registered, a pack will be sent out on 2 December to allow electors to cast their vote and return it to their local election office in advance of polling day on Thursday 12 December.
Due to the increased volume of mail in the run up to Christmas, postal voters are encouraged to complete and return their postal votes as soon as possible.
If voters cannot send the postal vote in advance, it can be handed in to their polling station on the day of the election.
Sandra Black, Returning Officer for Renfrewshire, said: “If you’re unable to visit your polling station on election day, that doesn’t mean you’ve missed your chance to vote.
“Register for a postal vote by Tuesday’s deadline and you’ll still be able to have your say in the election.
“Once you receive your voting pack, please return it as quickly as you can to ensure it reaches the election office in sufficient time.”
To vote in the election, residents must be registered on the electoral roll and this does not take place automatically by paying council tax.
Anyone over the age of 14 in Scotland can register but to vote in this election, voters must be over 18 and a UK Citizen.
The deadline to register to vote is midnight on Tuesday 26 November.
Voters can also request a proxy vote – where a person votes on their behalf – and the deadline for this method is 5pm on Wednesday 4 December.
For more information on the election, please visit www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/GeneralElection2019.
Paisley Pirates are hoping to get the show back on the road this Sunday, as they welcome the Dundee Tigers to Braehead Arena after two successive under par performances. A surprise defeat to North Ayrshire Wild, followed by a heavy loss to Murrayfield Racers, both in the Stuart Robertson Cup competition, have left Pirates looking to avoid a third successive home defeat to the to the much improved Tigers, a sequence which the home side has managed to avoid at the Arena for a number of years, such has been the consistency of their performances in recent times .Player/coach Adam Walker has warned the players that they have to work much harder than they have done in the last few weeks if they hope to take anything against the Tigers, who recorded an excellent 3-3 draw against Kirkcaldy Kestrels at the weekend.
The SNL match faces off at 4.30pm, during which time the Pirates Supporters Club will again be collecting new toys and taking donations for the Renfrewshire Toy Appeal. Chairwoman Marie Cadenhead commented, ”It’s a very worthwhile charity and once again it gives the Pirates a chance to support a local charity within the community. We got a very good response in the form of new toys and cash donations last year and we’re hoping that we get similar backing from our fans this year.”
Off Ice Operations Manager Jackie Turley also commented, “We’re getting to that time of year when clubs and organisations are looking for new ways to give their members a Christmas outing, and as usual we’re giving them the chance to bring their members to a game without breaking the bank in the process/ We’ve got a number of home games running up to around the middle of December so there’s a great chance for clubs to cash in on the offer by simply emailing us at paisleypirates@gmail.org.”
