Fife Flyers were too soft, and too slow as they went down to a 6-2 defeat at Manchester Storm.

The assessment of interim coach Johnny Curran was straight to the point after watching his side cough two short-handed goals and again concede back to back within seconds.

Curran has sought to take as much pressure off his dressing-room as possible as he tries to steer the team through a demoralising run of 23 losses in 24 outings.

He said: “We were really soft and slow, and you won’t win hockey games like that. Taking excuses away from the guys, the minutes were spread out but the pace wasn’t there. The guys have to look in the mirror - not good enough.”

Shane Owen in the thick of the action against Manchester Storm (Pic: Mark Ferris)

Flyers handed a debut to deadline day signing, Evan Mackinnon, while defenceman Brodie Kay and forward Kiera Craig both returned to the line-up after injury.

And it was Craig who got Fife off to a good start, netting the opening goal with a shot through a screen that beat David Tendeck blocker side at 9:50. However, Joe Morrow was left all alone in the slot at 11:19 to level the scores. Ryan Hughes had the best other chance of the period, coming in for a one-timer that netminder Shane Owen stopped.

Special teams again led to the next goal, but not the way Flyers would have hoped for. Owen Griffiths’ neat drop pass set up Tyler Hinam for a top-corner, shorthanded goal 7:19 into the second period to put Storm ahead. Craig Martin made it 3-1 at 34:37 with a low shot past Owen on the rush. Flyers’ goalie then made an excellent snow-angel save to prevent Martin making it four before the break.

Flyers were caught out shorthanded against 46:26 when Jake Durflinger fed Loren Ulett for a back-post deflection to make it 4-1 - that goal came on the same play as an incredible David Tendeck diving save with his stick. While Daniel Krenželok got Flyers back to within two at 54:31, goals from Alexis D'Aoust and Cam Critchlow 31 seconds apart put six on the board as Storm as closed the game out.

> Flyers host Glasgow Clan tonight (Sunday) at Fife Ice Arena – the game has a 5:15pm face-off.

> We have a new Facebook page for our coverage of Fife Flyers - featuring interviews, reports, analysis and lots of retro stories from our archives. Hit ‘like’ and keep up to date here:

Fife Flyers: too slow, too soft says coach on road defeat at Manchester

Comment Guidelines