Squad fails to build on 3-1 lead

David Campbell

The Pirates suffered play-off misery after they failed to capitalize on their 3-1 first period advantage over the Dundee Comets.

After a poor showing in their shootout win over the Kirkcaldy Kestrels, the Pirates came out with a fresh purpose for the SNL play-off final in Kirkcaldy.

Both Stuart Miller and Richard Thorp came close to opening the scoring before they took the lead in the ninth minute when Chris Wilson and Miller combined to put David Orr through, and he wasted no time in dispatching the puck behind Michie for the opener.

It got even better for them a minute later as they doubled their lead, as Ross Jordan fired home from the blue line through a ruck of players.

Comets hauled themselves back into contention after thirteen minutes as Hamilton got the better of Graeme Meechan to halve the deficit, but with Pirates looking rampant at this stage they immediately broke to the other end.

Tom Johnston found the net to make it 3-1, a lead which they held until the first interval, to send them in with a lead which their play merited.

Comets needed a quick goal at the start of the second session to give themselves a foothold in the match, and they got it with less than two minutes on the clock as Gordon fired home to make it a one-goal game.

Comets took energy from that strike and with the Pirates taking several penalties during the session, Comets had the opportunity to get themselves right back in contention and duly equalised after 36 minutes with Whitelaw scoring on the power play.

The Pirates’ passes were not quite so accurate, with players trying to do too much on their own.

Michie was not quite as busy between the posts for Comets at 3- 3 and going into the final session it was the Dundee side who continued to gather momentum.

Pirates were unable to capitalise on an early power play at the beginning of the final session and on 48 minutes they had a narrow escape as Dolan was sent clean through on Meechan but overshot the target and the chance was lost to the delight of the Pirates’ fans.

However, the Comets’ veteran forward had the last laugh as within two minutes as a rebound fell beautifully for him and he wasted no time in tucking home for what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Pirates continued to push forward, even pulling Meechan in the last minute for the extra skater, but in spite of their efforts they just didn’t have enough on the night.

And they were left having to watch Comets step forward to lift a trophy which could so easily have been theirs.