( Game was called early in the fourth quarter)

It was not that long ago that East Kibride Pirates battered Merseyside Nighthawks into submission, racking up a barrell load of points without reply in a game that lasted just over two quarters.

And at the weekend, it was a feeling of deja vue for the Division One Northern Conference Leaders who ran over a depleted Dundee Hurricanes side, who despite putting up stiffer resistance than the English counterparts and causing the Pirates some problems, eventually ran out of steam during the early stages of the final period.

The signs were there that Dundee were going to have a hard afternoon of it, turning up with only 21 starting players. If they were going to do anything in this game, they were going to get off the mark quickly.

And after it looked as if they were going to go three and out on their opening drive, the visitors caught the Pirates off guard with a fake punt attempt resulting in a big gain to the home sides 30 yard line.

But the Pirates defense managed to regroup and ensured that the Hurricanes made no further progress upfield and forced a turnover on downs.

From then on, the Pirates started to take over.

Backed by some first class blocking by the EK O Line, Iain "Sparky" Dick made a series of powerful runs, taking his side in excellent field position. Craig Towler tried to finish the move off fallling a few yards short of the goal line.

The Pirates took their eye off the ball and were forced back upfield with a poor snap to the QB, Neil Baptie. But the home side got themselves back on the move again when a fake hand off to Dick, left the Pirates QB to hold on to the ball and take it home for the opening touchdown, with Steven Cain, splitting the uprights for a successful conversion and a 7-0 lead.

The Pirates increased their lead on the opening drive of the second quarter, when Gary Carr showed strenght and determination, bouncing off three challenges for a second touchdown, with Cain once again nailing another successfull conversion kick.

A change of quarterback made now difference to the Pirates scoring success when Darren "Sunshine" Brownlie handed the ball to Blake Kyle, who sprinted through a gap in the Dundee defense for another six points and another successfull coversion kick from Cain.

Even though the game appeared to be running away from them, Dundee, despite having lost two players through injury during the game, and with a number of them playing both ways continued to push hard, but were getting nowhere fast against what was a rock solid Pirates defensive guard.

And the visitors troubles contiunued when they turned over possession when a wayward pass fell into the hands of defensive lineman, Karl McCran.

With less than five minutes of the half remaining and no change in the scoring, Dundee were still working hard, hoping to get off the mark before the break. But they had the stuffing knocked out of them two minutes later when a superb 39 yard run from "Sparky" and another successfull conversion attempt from Cain, saw the Hurricanes looking at 28 points scoreline without reply.

Dundee's troubles continued inside the final minute of the half when they turned over possession again with Scott Findlay turning in a big interception return, sprinting two thirds the length of the field for another touchdown, which was converted again by Cain for a 35-0 half time lead.

With such an emphatic score line and depleted squad numbers, one was expecting Dundee to call an end to the game. But to their credit, the Taysiders started the second half.

And even though they went further behind with another touchdown from Gary Carr, they took advantage of some slack play from the Pirates, with a big gain from their talisman playmaker, Mahamadou "Dooma" Niakaté making a big gain to the Pirates 30 yard line.

The visitors edged closer, but the Pirates, determined to hold on to their clean sheet, forced Dundee to settle for a field goal attempt, which finished wide left of the posts.