Paisley Pirates face local rivals North Ayrshire Wild in Scottish Cup tie

Paisley Pirates take a break from league action this weekend as they face local rivals North Ayrshire Wild!

Article Source: Paisley Pirates
Last Updated: 16 January 2018 17:57

The Pirates will take on North Ayrshire Wild in the first leg of their first round Scottish Cup tie at Braehead Arena on Sunday (face off 6.00pm).

Pirates Head Coach Ian Turley said, “It’s a match we’re very much looking forward to. In recent seasons our Scottish Cup form has improved out of all recognition. In the first four or five seasons after I came here we couldn’t get past the first round, whereas in the last two years we’ve been both winners and runners up, and we certainly prefer going the whole distance to losing early in the tournament. It gives the team something different to play for, the fans love us being involved in another competition and, of course, it gives us a piece of silverware to aim for.”

“Of course, our coach Adam Walker was behind Dundee Comets’ bench when they beat us in the final last season, and he’s shown he’s very much a winner, so rest assured we’ll be doing our utmost again this year. If we enter a completion, it’s with one objective in mind, and that’s to win it! We’ve shown we can compete with anybody in the SNL so there’s no reason why, if we continue to show the progress we’ve been making since the start of the season, that we shouldn’t be able to do ourselves justice. A lot of the new guys in the team haven’t yet experienced the thrill of winning a major competition, and the others would like very much to experience that sensation again, so we’ll be preparing to meet our rivals from North Ayr with every bit of intensity that we can muster.”

He continued, “There’s also an added incentive for many of the members of the team in that a fair chunk of the squad have actually played for North Ayr, so while there’s also the usual ingredients of a local derby to look forward to, there’s also added spice in the sense that they will of course want to put one over their former side. I’m sure the North Ayr boys will be looking at the match from exactly the opposite perspective so it all sounds good for the fans who come along to the game.”

“We had a bigger than usual crowd here a fortnight ago for the visit of Aberdeen and we put on a good show for the fans, many of whom I know were attending their first ice hockey match. I think we can assure them there will be that wee bit of needle in this weekend’s fixture so I hope they saw enough last time to encourage them to become regular Pirates’ fans. We certainly value their support and look forward to seeing them back again this Sunday.”

“Looking ahead a couple of weeks, we’re travelling to Elgin on Saturday 3 February to take on Moray Typhoons and if supporters are wanting to come and enjoy a good day out on the team bus with the match to follow at night, they should contact the club at paisleypirates@gmail.com.”

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