Fife Flyers end 2024 with defeat and questions on the road ahead in 2025

The curtain fell on 2024 and a horrendous December, with a 5-1 road loss to Glasgow Clan, 24 hours after they went down 8-3 to Corey Neilson’s team. Thirteen goals coughed, just four scored - a snapshot of a season that has crumbled alarmingly.

Flyers are now 11 points behind Manchester Storm in ninth, who also have two games in hand, and 14 away from Dundee Stars in eighth. Even the three games they have in hand may not be enough to make up such extensive ground in the second half of the season. Any hopes of progress rest on the team getting players healthy - some are played banged up, while Phelix Martineau is out - bringing in a new import and nursing more out of bodies which are exhausted, mentally and physically.

While the debate on how the club got to this stage continues, the priority of interim coach, Jonny Curran, is to shield his team as much as he can, and spotlight the positives from each game. He said there were plenty to take from this Hogmanay loss.

“We asked the guys to have a good pushback and they answered the bell,” he said. “We had a good 40 minutes.

“With a little more volume we will get more bounces - we’re not getting them because we are not ere creating enough offensive chances. Defence - we did a lot of it today and did it well. A couple of bounces maybe stretched the scoreline.”

Two of Clan’s goals came in the closing minutes, hiking a 3-1 match to 5-1.

Flyers contained their hosts in the opening stages until Tyson McLellan's excellent pass set up Cole Ully to score at Janis Voris' far post to open the scoring with 7:36 played. Voris - who got the nod ahead of Shane Owen, as expected - was a large part of the reason why the visitors trailed by just one through 20 minutes, although he still didn’t get the MoM award..

Having stopped Matt Stief on a breakaway, the goalie was unfortunately picking the puck out of the back of his next just a few moments later - a neat give and go involving the former set up Felix Pare to double the home side's lead.

Flyers had limited chances, but didn’t help themselves when Lucas Chiodo’s attempt at putting a puck over the line inadvertently stopped his own team scoring – were it a Clan stick, it would have been an excellent goal-line clearance. Clan's third of the night was put home by Matt Berry at the top of the crease, and challenged, unsuccessfully by Flyers for goalie interference. Massimo Carozza got the visitors on the board, breaking Lucas Brine's shutout at 49:18. McLellan and Pare both added goals in the final two minutes to wrap the win, and leave Fife fans looking to the opening weekend of 2025 for a chance of fortunes.