A STIRRING fightback from Pirates salvaged a point from a penalty strewn match which threatened to leave them with nothing to show from their efforts in their first SNL fixture of the season.

With referee Graham giving a hint of things to come by penalising three players in the first five minutes, Scott Cowan was called within 32 seconds for a cross check, there was little flow to the play as either side defended powerplays.

The hosts were first on the board shortly before the halfway point as Barnett netted.

Pirates continued to pass up powerplay opportunities in the opening session, Tigers’ Landsburgh proving equal to anything coming through to him, and the first session ended with the Tigers holding the advantage at 1-0.

The hosts demonstrated how to use the extra man advantage with their first powerplay of the middle session, which saw Topping double their lead in the 23rd minute, and leave Pirates looking down the end of a very long gun barrel, in what was looking to be a long night.

The visitors had a spell of five on three with two Tigers sitting in the sin bin, but were unable to pull a goal back, but in the 33rd minute skipper Graham McCamley threw his team a lifeline with an unassisted marker which brought Pirates back into the game.

The same player was involved in an incident only 20 seconds from the end of the period as he was ejected from the match on a check to the head call, leaving his side to play on a player short for the virtually the first quarter of the final session.

Pirates defended stoutly, while at a numerical disadvantage during the first spell in the final period, and, indeed, as they had been doing throughout, were outshooting the home side by two to one, and their efforts brought reward in the 54th minute as Tom Johnston netted to tie the scores.

Another late penalty called on the Tigers gave the visitors a final chance to net the game winning goal, but they couldn’t take advantage and had to settle for a fighting point, the evening finishing on a disturbing note with man of the match Scott Cowan receiving treatment for what appeared to be a very nasty facial injury.

Pirates are in action again this coming Saturday at Auchenharvie Leisure Centre, as they face North Ayrshire Wild in the first round of the Scottish Cup, with the visitors looking to record their first win in the competition since 2006.