It was a day full of winners – Western Wildcats in Barcelona, Grange at the top of the men`s Premiership along with Watsonians and Wildcats in the women`s… and of course the weather!
Western Wildcats won their first match in the prestigious EuroHockey League with a 3-1 win over Czech champions TJ Plzen-Litice in Barcelona, but they left it late to secure their passage to the quarter-finals against the winner of the all-Dutch affair between Bloemendaal or SV Kampong.
Coach Steven Percy said: “This was a steady performance by the boys, it was challenging for them against a good side but they stayed calm throughout. Fortunately we were clinical at penalty corners where our three goals came from. I`m watching the game between Bloemendaal and Kampong, and tomorrow`s game against the winner is going to be a huge challenge for us.”
There were two penalty corners in the first quarter, the Czechs missed theirs but Fraser Moran made no mistake from his opportunity to put the Western Wildcats one up. However, Plzen replied five minutes from the interval with an open play equaliser by Adam Uhlir.
As the game seemed to be drifting towards a shoot-out, late in the final quarter Jonny Christie and minutes later Andrew McAllister finished off penalty corner routines to secure the hard fought victory.
Late update – Kampong beat Bloemendaal 2-1 and they will line up against Western on Sunday.
FRIDAY NIGHT GAMES
Wildcats roared to the top of the women`s Premiership, at least for a while, with a 2-0 home win over Clydesdale Western at Auchenhowie. The opening goal came in the first quarter, a baseline attack saw Lucy Findlay forward the ball to Emma McDiarmid to score from close range.
The second emanated from a brilliant solo effort from Rachel Bain who finished off her own move by smashing the ball past the keeper. Clydesdale had their chances in the second half but found no way through the Cats defence. Special mention should be made of the Cats keeper 15-year-old keeper Fallon Thomson on her Premiership debut – she made several good saves and kept a clean sheet. Her performance was also commented on by Clydesdale`s captain Laura Paul.
In the other match Edinburgh University were held to a 1-1 draw by the steadily improving Grange – the sides are therefore still locked together on seven points with Grange having the better goal difference. Jika Nyirenda scored for the students – and also missed from the penalty spot – while Grange`s scorer was Heather Croll for her seventh of the season.
Saturday
Despite the terrible conditions Watsonians failed to get bogged down and came away with a comfortable 8-2 win over a plucky St Andrews University, and take over from Wildcats at the top of the women`s Premiership on goal difference. There were two goals each for Sarah Jamieson and Emily Dark, the rest singles by Katherine Holdgate, Milly Berndes-Cade, Dorothy Littlefield and Bethan Mann. In the second half the students managed a couple back through Hannah Coull from the penalty spot and Niamh Burns, but it was keeper Jess Mitchell who caught the eye with several good saves despite the scoreline.
With Western in Barcelona and the Edinburgh University`s fixture at Uddingston the victim of a waterlogged pitch, Grange took full advantage to go to the top of the men`s Premiership with a comfortable 5-0 win over Kelburne. Robbie Croll set the tone with a goal in the first minute following a cut-back from Dylan Bean and Jamie Green followed up with the second before the interval.
In the second half Croll completed his hat-trick with two penalty corner strikes and the scoring was completed with a move up the middle of the pitch finished off by Bean.
In a pitch that was made very slow by the torrential rain Dundee Wanderers and Watsonians struggled their way to a 1-1 draw, Calum Ross scoring for the Taysiders while Danny Cain was on target for the Edinburgh side.
It was also 1-1 between ESM and Inverleith. The latter`s captain Kyle Taylor said: “It’s a tough one to take, we had plenty of opportunities but failed to take them. On another day we could have scored four or five. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will start to take them and turn these draws into wins.”
ESM`s Jack Collister said something similar. “We had lots of opportunities to score but couldn`t add to our lead.”
Rich Wright gave ESM the lead at a penalty corner in the first quarter. Then the tale of two penalties, Inverleith`s was saved by keeper Callum Miller, then ESM`s effort hit a post. However, with three minutes left Stuart Hatton levelled for Inverleith for a share of the spoils.
Finally, the following matches were drowned out
Men
Clydesdale v Grove Menzieshill
Uddingston v Edinburgh University
Women
GHK v Gordonians
Uddingston v Glasgow University.
Hillhead v Inverleith
