Fife Flyers get no reward for huge effort in 4-1 loss to Glasgow Clan

After a shellacking at the hands of Dundee Stars, they moved to bring in cover for injured netminder Shane Owen and while former Guildford Flames goalie Kevin Lindskoug arrived in time, clearance to play did not, and he could only watch from the stands. They also brought in new forward Drake Pilon who arrived ready to play - only for the airline to lose his kit. Collin Shirley did make a welcome return to the line-up from injury, and Flyers dug incredibly deep once again to shake off any lingering memories of that Stars’ nightmare.

They created chances throughout the game and could have returned from Braehead with a point, possibly two - the outcome they need to kick-start their season into 2024 - but it was not to be as Clan edged home 4-1, with their final counter an empty-netter one second from time to put a little gloss on the final score..

Stand-in goalie Andy Little earned many plaudits for his performance and was the team’s MoM in many fans’ eyes, although the award went to defenceman Aleksi Makela as the blue liners worked hard to keep Clan out. Flyers gave up just nine shots in the opening period after conceding a first minute goal after a puck fell kindly for Dyson Stevenson in front of Little allowed him to find the net to light up a full house.

Any hopes Clan had to building on that lead were thwarted for 30 minutes as Fife more than matched them, They went 2-0 ahead at a neat passing play set up Charlie Combs on the poweprlay at 31:34 as he reached round the netminder to convert. Flyers responded immediately with Teemu Pulkkinen striking to cut the gap to just one goal, and setting up a thrilling third period in which Flyers continued to carve out chances.

With 46 minutes played, Luke Lynch put Clan back two ahead with another powerplay marker. Flyers kept pushing, and gambled by pulling Little in the dying stages of the game only to see Cody Sol hit the empty net with just one second left on the clock.

Post-game Tom Coolen could only reflect on the huge effort put in by his players.

“Tonight we had good focus and it was a good hockey game,” he said. “We played hard and had chances. We had chances to tie the game and maybe win it.I can take good positives from this.”