Pirates have the best of it in tough contest with Lynx Buddies took early lead but were kept on their toes

David Campbell

Pirates overcame a spirited performance by the visitors to bring their unbeaten start in the league to an end.

The home side were the quicker to settle and were ahead after four minutes as Wallace got on the end of a cross shot from Sarginson to beat Chalmers and give his side a lead which they never lost.

Both sides continued to push forward, but it was Pirates who doubled their lead in nine minutes as Dobson skated through and fired a beauty into the top of the net to put daylight between the teams. With no further scoring in the period, the teams headed for the dressing rooms at the first break with Pirates holding a handy 2-0 advantage.

The hosts got off to the best possible start in the middle session with a goal after only 29 seconds.

Chalmers could only parry a rasping shot from Divok, and the puck fell perfectly for Thorp to nudge it over the line to give Pirates a three-goal margin.

Back came the visitors, however, and after a sustained spell of pressure, they got their reward on 28 minutes through Malcolm.

Pirates steadied the ship thereafter and restored their margin of three just after the halfway point, Walker merely flicking a long-range effort which flew past Chalmers to nestle in the bottom corner.

The same player was on hand after 35 minutes to net his second of the night, and, with the buzzer sounding after 40 minutes, Pirates were well in control at 5-1.

A Hamilton shot which bounced off the underside of the bar and appearing to land behind the line, being washed out by referee Emmerson.

In spite of their four- goal advantage, Pirates had to be on their toes in the final session as Lynx continued to push forward towards Russell in the home goal.

After 45 minutes, the visitors struck with Malcolm’s second goal of the night, followed by a third from former Pirate Andrew Murphy to tighten up the scoreline at 5-3.

With four minutes to go, the accumulation of heavy challenges during the course of the game came to a head as Divok and Andreucci went head to head with the Durkacz brothers in two separate exchanges on the ice.

Joe Durkacz was eventually flung out of the game with the other pugilists receiving minor penalties, which were enough to end their participation in the match.

The excitement wasn’t quite over for the evening, however, as with the clock running down in the final few seconds, Walker sent Henderson away and the forward skated through to beat Chalmers with one second remaining, putting a final gloss on the evening to give Pirates a 6-3 win.

Pirates have a weekend off and are next in action on Sunday, December 16 when they play host to Kirkcaldy Kestrels.