Frustrated Finnerty seeks positives in Braehead Clan defeat

The men from Glasgow were edged out by the Devils in Wales on Sunday night in a thrilling 4-3 loss but it was a game that the Clan head coach felt his men deserved so much more from against the EIHL leaders.

Braehead competed well with their hosts throughout the contest and almost sneaked overtime in the midst of some harsh penalty calls.

“I think it was pretty frustrating that we played well enough to get something out of it but unfortunately we were killing five on three plays all night and struggled to get momentum out of that,” said Finnerty.

“It’s frustrating for everyone involved but you’ve got to give Cardiff credit. That’s one heck of a hockey team they’ve got there. The first 10 or 15 minutes they came at us real hard.

“I thought our defence played great. I thought our PK [penalty kill] when five on three we killed four of them against the top power play in the league.

“There are positives there, it’s just frustrating. The guys feel a bit deflated because I think we deserved something there.”

The Braehead Clan head coach chose his words carefully after the match as he attempted to come to terms with so many penalties against his side.

The men in white and purple were sent to the box eight times in the contest to their hosts’ two, and Finnerty was pleased with the focus shown by the players who were out on the ice.

“If the game was called differently I think we would have scraped something out of that game,” he told Clan Radio.

“We would have found two points possibly but it was very difficult in those conditions. You don’t expect it at this level to have to kill that much repeatedly.

“I was proud of the way we kept our composure. For anyone that’s played the game it gets pretty frustrating and I think we can draw a tonne of positives from that.

“The guys competed hard and played for one another and if we keep doing that then we are going to grind some results out.”