North Ayrshire Wild booked their place in the semi-finals of the Stuart Robertson Cup after two thrilling encounters with Paisley Pirates over the weekend.

Wild trailed 4-1 on home ice in their first meeting on Saturday, but a superb comeback in the final period saw them tie the game at 4-4 – Ryan Parkin (2), Adam Kerr and Callum Siebenaler got their goals.

The Pirates went into Sunday’s second game as favourites to progress to the last four, but Wild had other ideas as Martin Cardno (2) and Scott Cowan put them 3-0 in front at the first break.

Two more goals from Andy Barr and Marc Fowley gave Wild a commanding 5-0 lead, before Richard Thorp finally got the Pirates on the board.

Liam Anderson made it 6-1 before the second buzzer and although third period goals by Adam Walker and Connor Spiers briefly gave the Pirates hope, the visitors held on to claim an impressive 6-3 win.

Wild will now face Dundee Comets in the semi-finals, while holders Murrayfield Racers play Aberdeen Lynx.

The Racers boosted their hopes of progressing to the last four in the NIHL North Cup with a 6-3 victory over the Comets on Saturday – Callum Boyd (3) led their scoring.

They were unable to follow up at Whitley Warriors the following day as the Moralee D1 side secured a narrow 5-3 success.

Solway Sharks maintained their unbeaten record in the competition with a 7-4 home win against Billingham Stars – Jaakko Heiskanen weighed in with a couple of goals.

The Comets remain bottom of the group after slipping to a 9-6 defeat at Billingham – Garry Simpson (2) was amongst the scorers for the Scottish National League (SNL) side.

There was just one game in the SNL over the weekend, with Aberdeen Lynx recording a 6-0 home victory over Belfast Giants SNL – Iain Malcolm (3) topped their scoring.

WEEKEND RESULTS

Aberdeen Lynx 6-0 Belfast Giants SNL – SNL
Billingham Stars 9-6 Dundee Comets – NIHL North Cup
North Ayrshire Wild 4-4 Paisley Pirates – SRC South
Paisley Pirates 3-6 North Ayrshire Wild – SRC South
Dundee Comets 3-6 Murrayfield Racers – NIHL North Cup
Solway Sharks 7-4 Billingham Stars – NIHL North Cup
Whitley Warriors 5-3 Murrayfield Racers – NIHL North Cup

(Image permission: Al Goold Photo)