Topsy Turvy World in the Premiership

A few years ago, you would not have recognised the present standings in the both the men`s and women`s Premiership tables, sides that were previously near the bottom, or not even in the league at all, are now perched in the top echelons – good for the competition.

In the men`s league Dunfermline Carnegie, in their first ever season in the topflight, sit in pole position after picking up six points over the last weekend with Clydesdale in second spot. In the women`s it is GHK and Hillhead that sit in first and second spot.

However, in mitigation, the traditional leaders of the pack are sitting in the wings – most of them are several games behind due to having players in the Scotland squads and will now use the weeks ahead to catch up and accumulate points to progress up the table.

Dunfermline`s record over their seven games to date – four wins, a draw and two defeats – has been impressive considering this is their baptism at this level – a credit to coach Steven Glass and his squad. But can they stay in the top rungs – that is now the question?

Last weekend Dunfermline rose from the bottom six to pole position courtesy of back-to-back wins over Hillhead and Dundee Wanderers, and this success has reverberated throughout the club.

Liam Witt explained: “After our first win of the season we had members of the club congratulating us and tell us what it meant to see their club win at the top level, the whole squad hope seeing Dunfermline Carnegie at the top of the table does the rest of the club proud.”

He went on: “The six points at the weekend were massive for us. We suffered through a few losses but learned a great deal. We were always realistic that we would have dips in form, and it is how we respond to them that would define our season.

“We are back to winning ways now, so we need to maintain our ambition in the remaining games, and hopefully other results will go our way”.

The Fifers are certainly finding the net on a regular basis with an average of over three a game with Andrew Doyle and Aidan McQuade leading the cause with seven each.

But they have a big test on Saturday at home to Clydesdale, another side on their way up. After a bit of an up and down start to the campaign, the Titwood-based side have won their last two games against Grove Menzieshill and Kelburne to move up to second in the table.

This could be an intriguing contest with the outcome difficult to determine.

However, the game of the weekend is undoubtedly on Sunday when Grange entertain Wildcats at Fettes. While both managements would probably agree this is far from a league decider with so many games yet to play, there can be little doubt that both these sides are likely to be contesting the top spots at the end.

With so many lethal strikers in both sides it would be surprising if the total goal count did not exceed ten, but which way the result will fall is another matter. However, Grange`s young goal scorer Fraser Heigh continues to impress with his twelve in only four games – the Wildcats` defence will have to keep a look-out for the youngster in their circle.

Both sides have a warm-up outing on Saturday, Grange are away to Menzieshill while Wildcats go to Kelburne. Both sets of strikers can sharpen their sticks before the big game the day after.

The all-Edinburgh derby between University and Inverleith has an interesting ring about it. Because of international commitments it is a few weeks since the students last played. Then, they did well to hold the high-flying Wildcats to a 4-4 draw in their own den, Keir Robb scoring a hat-trick that day.

Inverleith did play last weekend and were on the wrong end of a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Grange, and consequently dropped from second to fifth in the table. So, coach Chris Duncan, fresh from the women`s World Cup Qualifier in Pisa, will look to get his charges back on the winning rails against the students.

After several postponements, Watsonians have only played three games but are undefeated with seven points. A home win against Hillhead on Saturday could push them close to a top six place. Yet the Glasgow side are only a point behind but have played four games more, having stabilised their poor start to the campaign with a couple of recent wins against Kelburne and Menzieshill.

The Uddingston youngsters are beginning to find their sea legs in the Premiership. In their last two outings they have shared the points with Dunfermline and Kelburne, but must be looking to take the three points on offer at home to bottom side Dundee Wanderers.

Clydesdale Western are back on Premiership business for the first time since their 4-0 win over Uddingston on 9 October and coach Derek Forsyth will be eyeing GHK`s pole position as the sides meet on Saturday. Clydesdale weathered their early season clashes with Wildcats, Watsonians and Edinburgh University, and came away with full points, and must be pre-match favourites to end GHK`s fairy-tale start to the campaign.

Under coach Susan McGilveray, herself a former Clydesdale player, GHK have come a long way this season and have shown real progress from previous campaigns, but have they the strength-in-depth to dent Clydesdale`s aspirations?

At the moment, Clydesdale are fifth, only three points adrift of GHK with a similar goal difference, but with three games in hand.

Hillhead are in second spot after three victories in a row but have a tricky away fixture at Glasgow University to maintain that status. Last weekend`s 2-1 win over GHK was an important result for Hillhead with Mhairi Low and Anna Irvine on target.

But the students will be no push-over. After holding pole position for a brief period, they fell back to sixth until last weekend`s 1-0 win over Gordonians, which advanced them two places.

This will be an interesting clash between two of the Premiership`s upstarts.

Elsewhere, the traditional leaders of the women`s competition should continue up the table – it is expected that Wildcats, Watsonians and Edinburgh University will get the better of Erskine Stewart`s Melville, Gordonians and Uddingston respectively.

And so, to the final fixture on the card – the Tayside derby between Grove and Dundee Wanderers… so often one of the highlights of the season…in the past!

Grove coach Niall Joss summed up the occasion. “It`s clearly unusual for this to be a bottom of the table clash but we`re both rebuilding. We`ve been very clear that this half of the season is about learning and getting used to being Premiership players, so we`ll go into the match with that same attitude. And it looks like we should have the majority of our squad available this week, so we`ll see how it goes…”.

It is difficult to imagine how this somewhat unusual Tayside occasion will pan out – last weekend Grove lost 6-0 to Wildcats and that despite a string of good saves from keeper Raph Robeson, while Wanderers gained their second point with a 1-1 draw at Uddingston, Amy Snelle scoring this time.

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