ESM Lions get their claws stuck into the men’s Premiership while GHK chase down Wildcats in the women’s Premiership

Perhaps another success story in the making – ESM Lions are getting their claws stuck into the men`s Premiership with an impressive start to the season.

OK, they lost their opening games against Edinburgh University and Grange – but only by a single goal and these were the top two sides last season. And there is more to the story; the students scored the winner with only two minutes left while ESM led Grange 2-1 with five minutes left only to succumb to two late strikes by the Premiership holders.

Since then the Lions got stuck in with straight wins over Dunfermline Carnegie (3-2), Grove Menzieshill (3-1) and Dundee Wanderers (3-2) to take the Edinburgh side up to sixth.

A far cry from ESM`s first two seasons in the Premiership when avoiding a return to the second tier was the main agenda.

ESM`s leading scorer Jack Collister explains, “When we first got promoted we had an inexperienced squad, many of whom it was their first time playing in the premiership. This is now our third season and so we’ve built up more experience at playing the level. We’ve benefitted from new faces coming into our squad who have played a high level of hockey before and therefore we were always going to show some improvement.

“We went into those first two games against Grange and Uni knowing that they were free hits and that the results were irrelevant. It was about how we performed in those games that mattered most – being close gave us confidence that we could get something out of the next few games which we’ve managed to do.”

So what is the agenda now? Jack said, “We just want to keep building week on week, consistently putting in good performances. If we’re still in the top six at Christmas we’ll be proud.”

And ESM are building up a reputation for playing a good standard of hockey – so the future looks bright.

There are still three teams at the top of the men’s table on 15 points after five games – Western Wildcats, Grange and Watsonians – divided only by goal difference, will that situation survive this Saturday`s fixtures?

Western Wildcats travel to Lanarkshire to face Uddingston and will hope to have too much firepower, especially with Jamie Golden in such fine scoring form from both set pieces and open play – the Dundonian picked up a hat-trick against Hillhead last weekend. Wildcats` coach Vishal Marwaha will be without teenager Tommy Austin, the youngster is in Malaysia representing the Great Britain under-21 side at the Sultan of Johor Cup.

However, Uddy have a good scoring record of their own – but it`s a little inconsistent. They have scored 19 goals in three games and drawn a blank in the other two – so what will it be on Saturday?

Grange are at Titwood to face an FSEG Clydesdale side that are going through hard times at the moment. In their last three fixtures they have conceded 13 goals and not found the net at all. Clydesdale can never be ruled out even when the chips are down, and doubtless Grange coach Stevie Grubb will take that threat into account. But the Premiership champions are now beginning to find the net on a regular basis with ten against Inverleith and five at Dundee Wanderers Matt Murphy, Robbie Croll, David Nairn and Dylan Bean all been amongst the goals.

In the last two weeks Watsonians victories have been slender and secured near the end – but in the end they still have a 100% record and third in the league. Saturday sees them travel to Dunfermline Carnegie, a side that have still to record their first point of the campaign.

Edinburgh University are lurking just behind the top three and travel to Glasgow to take on Hillhead. The students must be favourites as they are on a three win roll while Hillhead are in eighth place with only four points. However, such statistics do not always determine the result.

And now finally, the Tayside derby between Dundee Wanderers and Grove Menzieshill – here no statistics will give guidance about the outcome. Only the latter have tasted victory this season and that was last weekend against Dunfermline Carnegie.  And Wanderers are pointless having scored only three times and conceded 24. Gav Byers’ squad might fancy their chances of another three points to add to their existing four.

The apex of the women`s Premiership has a familiar ring about it, however the battle for third place between GHK and Western Wildcats has an intriguing look to it.

At the moment Wildcats hold third by two points courtesy of their win over Uddingston and GHK`s loss to Clydesdale Western, but on Saturday the sides meet head-to-head at Old Anniesland with third place as the prize.

Not an easy one to predict. Both sides have won most of their games but also have floundered – Wildcats to Glasgow University and GHK to Clydesdale Western. Both sides have potential match-winners, Kate Holmes, Lexi Macmillan and Rachel Bain have been on target for the Cats while Lucy Williamson and Joanne Boyle have done the same for GHK.

Clydesdale Western are behind on goal difference only and they travel to Edinburgh to face Grange – on a run of draws until last weekend`s defeat by the Edinburgh students.

Jamie Carnegie`s St  Andrews University have had the start from hell – Wildcats, Clydesdale, Edinburgh University and finally Watsonians with only a 3-3 draw against Grange to relieve the pressure.  But now the students can look to start to pick up much needed points and will hope playing Hillhead at home could be the beginning. They might take some encouragement in that last weekend they restricted Watsonians to a modest 4-1.

There are a few postponements in the women’s Premiership – Uddingston v Watsonians; Glasgow University v Inverlieth; and Fjordhus Reivers v Edinburgh University will all be rescheduled.

Recent posts:

Back to all news
Back to top