Clydesdale Western in Turkey and restart of Premiership campaign = action-packed weekend

Wendy Justice, a GB Olympic bronze medallist, leads Clydesdale Western to Alanya (Turkey) as coach for the EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy with enthusiasm.

The Alanya tournament is Europe`s second tier – so the quality is high.

She said: “We are looking forward to what will be a wonderful engagement and learning experience for this close-knit, competitive squad of players. We recognise that being amongst the medal winners at this event will not be easy, given that three out of our eleven strong squad who have yet to experience this type of event and style of indoor hockey.”

The Clydesdale cause is not helped by the enforced absence of two key players, Jen Eadie is out due to GB commitments while Bronwyn Shields is injured.

Not short of optimism, Justice added: “We have every reason to believe that this squad can pull off great achievements, given that we secured the national title recently when we were four key players short.”

There can be no denying Clydesdale`s right to retain the Scottish indoor crown – they were the only side to win all seven games including the crucial match against nearest challengers Watsonians.

And so Clydesdale will be playing for their own European destiny in Alanya.

The Clydesdale coach continued: “This squad of players are receptive to trying new things, and the style of play we are currently adopting really seems to suit them, with them set on creating chaos going forward and defensively denying our opponents scoring opportunities through cleaner defence work to avoid conceding corners and two v one opportunities within our own circle.”

It is a tough schedule for Clydesdale, as it is for the other competing sides.

On Friday Clydesdale are up against SV Arminen (Austria) and Buckingham (England), on Saturday it is Gaziantep Polisgucu SK (Turkey) and SK Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) and finally Railway Union (Ireland) on Sunday.

“We go in with the knowledge that there will be no relegation and that we will be back to represent Scotland in Europe next year, so this is a fantastic building block opportunity for the longer term goal of going even better next year.” said Justice.

Ending on a positive note, Justice remarked: “Anticipation and excitement are high within the squad, and we go with the belief, understanding and knowledge that anything is possible.”

PREMIERSHIP

Western Wildcats are firmly in the driving seat of the men`s Premiership with a five point lead over second-placed Grange and nine or more ahead of the rest of the chasing pack – so the question is, can they be caught?

Nobody really put a dent in Western`s progress in the first half of the season…except Saturday`s opponent Edinburgh University in a quixotic 4-4 draw at Auchenhowie in October.

That day the students caught Western cold and romped into a 4-1 lead by the end of the third quarter, Keir Robb netting a hat-trick. But they failed to hold their nerve and a double from the spot by Andrew McConnell and another from Niall Sommerville let the league leaders off the hook.

But these are the only points Western dropped over the opening eleven games. Western coach Vishal Marwaha will doubtless remind his charges of their failings that day and ensure no repetition.

Edinburgh University under the coaching aegis of Hamish Imrie have made their mark, they are on an eight game unbeaten run and have only lost one game, an early season 4-3 reversal at Clydesdale. However, whether lightning can strike twice at Auchenhowie is another matter.

Grange will certainly not want to lose any ground on Western as they entertain Watsonians at Fettes. The latter have done well this season to assume fourth spot in the table, but succumbed 4-2 at Fettes in the last game in November.

Yet they did lead 2-1 early in the second half, two penalty corner strikes from Dan Coultas did the trick, but Grange recovered to score three more from Charlie Jack, Duncan Riddell and the Premiership`s top goal scorer Fraser Heigh from the spot.

The final fixture in the top six takes Clydesdale to Fife to face a Dunfermline Carnegie side that is not content simply to make up the numbers in their first season in the top flight.

The Fifers have had some very encouraging results, no less than their draws with both Grange and Edinburgh University in the final two games before the winter break, and at the end of October beat Clydesdale 3-2 with strikes from Dan Pearson, Gary Clark and Liam Witt.

However, Clydesdale are also capable of putting in good performances, so this again could be a close one.

The bottom six competition is all about avoiding position 12 (automatic relegation) and 11 (play-off with the runner-up in the second division), and at the moment Dundee Wanderers and Grove Menzieshill respectively occupy these positions.

And the Tayside pair meet head to head on Saturday.

At the moment Grove Menzieshill hold a one point lead over their Tayside rivals, but are five points adrift of Kelburne and Hillhead – so Saturday`s three points will be crucial for survival.

In fact, Grove Menzieshill`s narrow lead over Wanderers was based on their 3-2 win back in November – doubtless it will be as close again.

The other games in this part of the Premiership see Inverleith entertain Hillhead and Kelburne travel to Uddingston. Again these could be close – before the break Inverleith won their match with the only goal from Jack Henderson while the other ended in a 2-2 draw.

On Sunday Hillhead entertain Uddingston in a postponed Scottish Cup tie.

With the Clydesdale Western v Edinburgh University clash off due to the former`s participation in the Europe, what better chance for Watsonians to close the gap at the top of the women’s Premiership.

In fact three points and ten goals against Western Wildcats would see Keith Smith`s side take over pole position.

Watsonians certainly did win the earlier fixture 3-1 with Nikki Stobie, Sarah McKay and Emily Dark getting the goals, but double figures is possibly a bridge too far.

However, with ten games to play in this part of the campaign, the destiny for the championship and European places looks to be between Clydesdale, Watsonians and Edinburgh University.

The other fixture in the top six is the all-Glasgow affair between GHK and Hillhead. Both sides have shown remarkable progress during the Covid lockdown under respective coaches Susan McGilveray and Andrew Hilton, and have emerged much stronger sides and much deserving of their top tier status.

GHK have a single point advantage over their rivals but it was Hillhead who won the head to head in October by 2-1 – Molly Turnbull opened for GHK but Mhairi Low and Anna Irvine won the points for Hillhead.

In the lower half Erskine Stewart`s Melville have no points after the first eleven games, so three points against Dundee Wanderers on Saturday would be a good starting point for the road to recovery. The Edinburgh side only lost the previous outing at Dalnacraig by the odd goal in seven, so perhaps not much between the teams.

In the other games, form might just favour the home sides – earlier a penalty corner strike by Katy Martin gave Glasgow University the nod against Gordonians while Connie Lathe and Sophie Ross were Uddingston`s scorers in a 2-1 win over Grove Menzieshill – will the outcomes be similar?

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