Premiership sets up an intriguing weekend of action

After an absence of 18 months, I suppose it was inevitable that there were some curious results, an apparent upset or two, but also encouraging performances by some teams – so it was a bit of a mixed bag overall on the opening day. But as some coaches/managers stated – it is far too early to see a clear trend emerging.

However, one trend seems to have emerged in the men`s division – that is Western Wildcats are on the prowl after an emphatic 6-1 win over Hillhead.

Coach Vishal Marwaha evaluated: “It was a decent performance last Saturday and we scored some nice goals.”

Perhaps encouraging for the Wildcats coach was the hat-trick by Andy McConnell, he will undoubtedly be a threat to the Clydesdale defence when the Titwood outfit visit the den at Auchenhowie. McConnell broke into the Scotland squad for the recent EuroHockey Championships  in Poland and played a prominent part in the silver medal.

But Marwaha is too long in the tooth to be carried away by a single result and is wary of the Clydesdale threat. “Clydesdale always present a tough match. It was a draw in our last competitive game but the squad has had a good pre-season and we go into the game with confidence.”

However, the Titwood-based side also opened their campaign with a confident performance, seeing off Dundee Wanderers 4-1 on Tayside.

Edinburgh University, in third place when the league ended in March 2020, enter the fray this weekend with a home encounter with Uddingston.

The students are under new management, Scottish international Hamish Imrie takes over as player/coach while Robbie Croll will captain the side.

Imrie said: “We have no new external players coming in so we are a young, exciting, enthusiastic team this year.

“A Dutch boy joined us called Jelle who is an exciting prospect but we have a good core of Scotland under-21 players in the squad who hopefully will be pushing towards the senior international team in the near future.

“The aim is to make the split and then top four would be a very good outcome this season being a young squad.”

Three points from the Uddingston tussle would provide an early indicator to Imrie that he is on track to achieve his targets. However, that might not be so easy, the youthful Lanarkshire side did hold Grange to parity at the interval last weekend and the result was only really sealed in the final ten minutes… and they will improve with more games under their belt.

However, full marks must go to Dunfermline Carnegie on their debut in the Premiership… they started with a win.

Spokesman Liam Witt said: “Saturday was such a huge moment for both the squad and the club as a whole. The emotions of our first match in the Premiership definitely played their part in the performance but getting the three points has given us a great deal of confidence and a solid base to build from.”

The Fifers resilience will undoubtedly be tested in Saturday`s away trip to Grove Menzieshill, the side that finished in fourth place in March 2020.

Witt went on: “We are keen to test ourselves against the established sides in the league and Saturday is a great opportunity to do that.”

Whether the Taysiders are the same threat they were 18 months ago is still to be determined – they started this campaign with a draw against Kelburne.

Elsewhere, Grange must be favourites to see off a Hillhead side that has lost so many players since the shutdown of March 2020. But at this stage the remaining games must still be little more than speculation – the Kelburne youngsters could get their first three points at home to Dundee Wanderers while Inverleith might pick up their first Premiership points against Edinburgh neighbours Watsonians. But, who knows at this stage!!

Pride of place must go to GHK after the first round of matches – they sit in pole position in the women`s Premiership after a 4-1 win over Uddingston last weekend, courtesy of a hat-trick from Aimee Anderson.

A good outcome for coach Susan McGilveray – but the question is, will they stay there? On Saturday the Glasgow side travel to Dundee to face Grove Menzieshill.

Grove seem very much of a club in transition, interim coach Niall Joss stated that only four of his squad have actually started a Premiership match. Sam Sangster has rejoined Dundee Wanderers but Grove have attracted Jenna Volpert who played four seasons with English Universities and keeper Raph Robeson who played with Wimbledon and England under-18s. But will this be enough to stifle GHK promising start?

The game of the day is undoubtedly at Auchenhowie where Wildcats play hosts to Clydesdale Western. Last weekend Wildcats were held to a goalless draw by a plucky Hillhead outfit while Western took the three points in a tricky away outing to Watsonians.

Western coach Derek Forsyth said: “We were happy to take all three points from our match last Saturday which I felt we deserved. There were aspects of our game which we were pleased with but recognised that there are areas that still require some development.”

Forsyth is certainly not counting his chickens for the Wildcats encounter. “Matches against Wildcats are always close and I expect the same this Saturday,” Forsyth remarked.

Western have a daunting start to this season`s campaign – Watsonians last week, Wildcats this Saturday, and Dundee Wanderers and Edinburgh University to follow – the four teams beneath Western when the competition came to an abrupt end in March 2020.

But Forsyth is not fazed by this. “To be honest I have not looked at our match schedule as we are just focusing on each game as it comes.”

Edinburgh University, who finished runners-up in March 2020, make their first appearance in this season`s Premiership with a home game against Gordonians.

As always with university sides it is difficult to know how strong they will be from one season to another, and coach Sam Judge revealed only a little. “We have some young promising players joining so it`ll exciting how the squad will evolve.

“We`re excited to be back playing hockey and will hopefully be competitive and look to be in the top four.”

Past form would suggest the students will take the three points from their home encounter with Gordonians, but the Aberdonians would seem to have moved on from March 2020. They might have opened with a win against Dundee Wanderers last weekend if they had managed to hang on to their two goal lead going into the final quarter.

Watsonians lost their opening fixture 1-0 to Clydesdale Western, but according to coach Keith Smith it was a fairly even game. With an influx of fresh faces to the ranks, it is likely that Smith`s charges will have too much firepower for the newcomers.

Elsewhere, Uddingston will be looking to take the three points from Glasgow University at Bothwell Castle if they are to make an impact on the league while it will be interesting to see if Dundee Wanderers can do any better than Wildcats at breaking down the Hillhead defence on Tayside.

 

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