Paisley Pirates coach Ian Turley refuses to be drawn over whether Saturday’s 7-5 road win at SNL leaders Aberdeen Lynx is a defining result for his team.
The Pirates moved into second place in the standings in front of a sell-out crowd at Linx Arena thanks a burst of three late goals to take victory, putting them a point behind Lynx in the title race.
But Turley says the process they have in place is paying off and despite a great start, never believed the job was done.
“It was a really good game and it was a good one to watch for spectators,” he said. “I never thought, when we went 3-0 up, the game was over. The crowd really get behind them at Aberdeen so I knew even one goal would give them some momentum.
“We got a goal late in the second which set us up going into the third and the changes we made paid off for us.
“There’s no secret behind our turnaround. It’s a process and we’re still early in the season. It’s a massive result to go there and win, but it’s too early to say whether it does anything for our title aspirations.
“Aberdeen are still top of the table and we’re proud of getting that result. Things are starting to click for us now and while we’ve been dominant in spells, we haven’t dominated for a full 60 minutes yet.
LISTEN: Paisley coach Ian Truly sums up Saturday’s win in Aberdeen
“If we can continue to improve and guys can buy in, what we have and what we can do can certainly be a recipe for success.”
Pirates were fresh from a four-point weekend last week after good wins over North Ayrshire Wild and Edinburgh Capitals, with this one making it three in a row.
They got a dream start as Ryan Parkin scored in the opening 10 seconds, followed quickly by two markers from Marty Simpson.
Lynx got one back straight away from Ben Edmonds, before levelling through Kyle McPhail and James DeMeo, with his first of the season.
Garry Simpson edged Paisley in front to put them 4-3 ahead before the end of the second period before it was cancelled out by DeMeo early in the third.
Both sides traded goals again as Simpson’s second of the night, to complete a four-point night was equalled by Jonathan Hogan, but Pirates ensured the win late on thanks to Dean Hamilton and Calum Blair, with a shorthanded goal.
The weekend’s other league points went to Kilmarnock Thunder, who made it two out of two over Kirkcaldy Kestrels with a 3-2 win at The Galleon in a game decided by penalty shots.
After a nine-goal thriller in Fife last week that saw the Ayrshire side take the win, Kestrels would have seen this game as a chance to get back to winning ways, but it wasn’t to be as they slumped to a fourth straight defeat.
Conor Duncan’s opening goal in the second period broke the deadlock, but Innes Gallacher squared things on the powerplay early in the third.
Andy Finlay’s strike edged the visitors in front again, only for Gallacher to make it 2-2 for his 13th point of the season, to make him top scorer in the SNL.
Ultimately, it was penalty shots needed to decide the encounter and it was Andy Barr who scored the decisive one to seal the win.
The Scottish Cup returned after a Covid enforced absence, with North Ayrshire Wild, under new coach Domenico De Simone taking on Dundee Comets.
But it was to be a night to forget for Wild, who suffered a second straight double figure loss as Comets soared into the last four of the tournament.
Sean Beattie’s opening goal in the first minute set the tone as he, along with Michael Ireland, Stephen Eccles and Ben Brown all picked up doubles.
John Dolan, Richard Hartmann, Adam Robinson and Scott Geddes all weighed in with single strikes to seal a 12-0 road win in Ayrshire.
RESULTS
Saturday
SNL:
Aberdeen Lynx 5 Paisley Pirates 7
Kilmarnock Thunder 3 Kirkcaldy Kestrels 2 (PS)
Scottish Cup:
North Ayrshire Wild 0 Dundee Comets 12
