Wanderers women play indoor in Porto while two men’s Scottish Cup ties are settled

Once again there is a variety on offer this weekend, Dundee Wanderers` women head for Porto for the EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge 1 – the last event of the indoor season – while for the men there are two outstanding Scottish Cup ties, left over from the November frosts.

In the initial pool competition Wanderers will take on Raca (Slovakia) and Akademik (Bulgaria) on Friday, and then Swansea (Wales) on Saturday`s opening encounter. The Dundonians will only advance to the later promotion group if they finish in the top two – and that has got to be the first target.

Wanderers had a very successful domestic season sweeping all before them – that is until the final match against Clydesdale Western when the bubble burst. The Taysiders went down 3-2, courtesy of a last gasp strike by Millie Steiger.

How far that reversal will dent Wanderers` confidence is difficult to quantify, but coach Iain Strachan is upbeat.

“This should be an interesting competition we rarely go into these things ranked at the top end. Porto is also a venue we have never visited before, so lots of firsts, lots of new teams for us to get our heads round.

“Only really the Irish we have played regularly and this is a different team this time round. So it will be a case of turn up see what`s on offer and what we need to do to get past them.

“In reality we should make the promotion pool and I feel we should be fighting for promotion.”

In the search for promotion Strachan has the advantage of several players who can find the net on a regular basis – the likes of Vikki Bunce, always a lethal finisher, Emily Dark, Ruth Blaikie, Amy Snelle, Ellie Wilson and Jess Ross give the coach plenty of options.

The two outstanding Scottish Cup round 2 ties involve all-Premiership sides.

At the moment Grange is the only unbeaten side in the Premiership and top the table with a cushion of five points, therefore should be favourites to see off fifth-placed Clydesdale at Titwood.

The teams met at the same venue back in October with the champions coming out on top by 3-0. But it was not all plain-sailing, the match was poised goalless after the first half. Two goals in as many minutes by Aussie Josh McRae and a late penalty corner strike by Dan Coultas settled the issue in the end.

Further, Grange started the second half of the season with a comfortable 4-0 win over Hillhead – McRae was again on sharp form with another double. So perhaps there’s not much rustiness in the Grange camp.

The winner will be away to St Andrews University.

In the other tie Kelburne entertain Edinburgh University at Glasgow Green. This could be a close affair if the league encounter at the end of the first half of the season is anything to go by – the sides shared an eight goal outing.

The students are having another good season, they are fourth in the table and could go third if they win their outstanding game against Hillhead.

In contrast, Kelburne are still on the road to recovery under coach Gordon Shepherd and have recorded a few promising results. As in the past the Paisley side have little problem scoring goals with Jack Mackenzie, Johnny Christie and Pol Albericio frequently on the score sheet, but a leaky defence has seen them lose 46 goals in nine outings.

The winner here will be at home to Gordonians.

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