Paisley Pirates head coach Ian Turley was pleased to see his team clinch their first shutout of the season – but admits they could have been better.

Pirates moved above Kirkcaldy Kestrels into fourth place after defeating Kilmarnock Storm 5-0 on Sunday, with Garry Simpson scoring four.

And Turley insists his team are still a work in progress, discussing the integration of younger players into the side.

“I’m pleased with the result, although I don’t think we played the best hockey,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty at times, but it is our first shutout of the season so I’m happy with that.

“We had a couple of the young players from Lightning Pirates involved and it’s all about integrating them into the process and we have a number of guys training with us.

“Some of them suit up with us, but maybe don’t see a lot of ice time, but it is a process and where we can bring them in, like this game, we can.

“So far, the progress we’re making is certainly steady and we’ve maybe fallen off the wagon a couple of times, but with the games we have, that’s going to happen.

“The important thing for us is we are improving with every game, not only as a team, but as a collective too.”

It took Simpson just under nine minutes to get his first of the contest, finishing off an assist from Marty Guy before making it two after 12 minutes, setting the tone for the night ahead.

Two more in the second period really put the game out of sight as Thunder struggled to get any traction in the game, with a fifth marker coming from Callum Henderson in the third.

Gary Parker’s four assists also played their part as Paisley got themselves back on track with this win.

For Kilmarnock, it ended what turned into a miserable weekend and went to Braehead Arena on the back of a 9-6 defeat at home to Dundee Tigers on the Saturday.

While Innes Gallacher netted twice, further goals from Stephen Bonar, Mitchell Riley, Torran Anderson and Connor McNulty weren’t enough in the end.

Hat-tricks from Robbie Barnett and Callum Turnbull helped Tigers to a big two points on the road, with a double from Rio Page and Ross Johnston’s single strike making it good night.

While Tigers were taking care of things in Kilmarnock, Richard Hartmann took his Dundee Comets side to North Ayrshire and also racked up nine.

Hartmann himself rolled back the years, at the age of 47, with four goals in a 9-3 romp that edged his side closer to the top two.

Further goals from Iain Bowie, Ross Paul, Bill Baxter, Charlie Scott and Josh Hamilton secured a fantastic result that set them up for Sunday’s derby encounter with Dundee Tigers. Dylan Murray (2) and Kyle Forsyth scored for Wild.

Saturday’s other game saw Kirkcaldy Kestrels look to get their title defence back on track when they were visited by Aberdeen Lynx, the league leaders going into week.

Kestrels got the best possible start when Scott Jamieson put them in front, but by the end of the first, Lynx had turned it around with goals from Owen Michie and Ben Edmonds.

Jordan Leyden and James DeMeo increased the lead to 4-1 before Rolands Dietlavs pulled one back for the home side, with Nils Tanner rounding things off with a late marker.

Dundee’s two teams came together for their first meeting of the season to round off the weekend and it was the Comets who came through in dramatic fashion.

John Dolan opened the scoring four minutes into the second period, but Tigers pulled level through Callum Turnbull to tee up a grand finale.

The game needed overtime and Adam Robinson wasted no time in firing in the winner six seconds into the extra period to claim the win.

It wasn’t all bad news for Tigers though, as they went top of the table courtesy of the extra point picked up for taking the game beyond regulation game.

The weekend was also a good one for Edinburgh Capitals, who brought home the Northern Challenge Cup as they beat Whitley Warriors home and away.

At Murrayfield on Saturday, the Caps took the first game 6-4 as Chad Smith, two from Archie Holmes and one from Aiden Paterson put them four ahead after the first period.

Andrey Ogloblin added a fifth in the middle session, where Whitley got on the board through Jamie Ord before Smith’s second looked to put Edinburgh well ahead.

Warriors hit back and narrowed the gap in the third as two from Philip Edgar and a Rihards Grigors finish in between ended the first leg with a Caps advantage.

The return game on Sunday was closer, but Steven Lynch’s side did just enough to see it through in the end.

Edgar opened the scoring for Warriors, but Edinburgh found an extra gear as Aaron Robertson, Joe Lynch and Ben Coughtrie’s empty netter made sure of victory on aggregate.

Adam Finlinson’s late consolation finished off the 3-2 result on the night and the 9-6 aggregate result to see Capitals take the trophy at the end.

Caps coach Steven Lynch was pleased to see his team overcome some early pressure in Sunday’s game to go on and claim victory.

“We were under the cosh in the first period, but we slowly came into the game and had a better second period and were excellent in the third,” he said.

“We couldn’t afford to go 2-0 down, otherwise the tie was level, so for us to get our goal, it was massive and gave us something to build on.”

WEEKEND FIXTURES

SATURDAY

SNL

Kilmarnock Thunder 6 Dundee Tigers 9
North Ayrshire Wild 3 Dundee Comets 9
Kirkcaldy Kestrels 2 Aberdeen Lynx 5

Northern Challenge Cup

Edinburgh Capitals 6 Whitley Warriors 4

SUNDAY

SNL

Paisley Pirates 5 Kilmarnock Thunder 0
Dundee Comets 2 Dundee Tigers 1 (OT)

Northern Challenge Cup

Whitley Warriors 2 Edinburgh Capitals 3

(Edinburgh Capitals win 9-6 on aggregate)