Watsonians women in Europe and Scottish Cup action overview

Watsonians women are back in European mode this weekend, they travel to the lovely city of Porto in Portugal for the EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy with an interesting challenge awaiting them.

Firstly, the Scots will compete in the initial pool competition against Milano Hockey Prato (Italy), East Grinstead (England) and HAHK Mladost (Croatia), and they must finish in the top two to move on to the promoti9on pool competition and a chance to aspire to EuroHockey`s top flight.

We caught up with Watsonians coach Keith Smith and he evaluated the prospects.

“From what we`ve seen of our opponents so far, it looks like it could be a pretty tight competition.  We know the quality of Wettingen and Railway Union from last year`s Indoor Club Cup but they are on the other side of the draw.

“We have a tricky pool to negotiate first before we think of any crossovers; Milano have plenty of experienced indoor players, East Grinstead obviously won the English title this season, while Mladost have a number of Croatian internationalists currently playing at the Indoor World Cup, so they`ll be sharp from that.”

So what about the strength of the squad travelling. The obvious big loss is the absence of striker Sarah Jamieson, who is in the Scotland squad for the forthcoming FIH Nations Cup in Chile which starts on the 23rd.

Keith went on to elaborate on the composition of the EuroHockey squad.

“As well as losing Sarah Jamieson to Nations Cup duty, we`ve got a much changed squad from last year`s Indoor Club Cup including Katherine Holdgate, Lucy Camlin and Amber Murray also unavailable.  However, Katie Stott, Ailsa Small and Katie Crawford are all back after missing last year due to work commitments, while Anna Richardson has settled in well since moving from Ireland.

“We also added Iona Colquhoun this indoor season too, and she has plenty of previous European experience with both Dundee Wanderers and Clydesdale Western, so we certainly have good strength in depth.”

Watsonians have the added incentive of playing for their own European future as they have just retained the Scottish National League championship after a 2-0 win over rivals Clydesdale Western.

Keith went on to evaluate the importance of that achievement.

“With the domestic disruption caused by the Nations Cup preparations, it`s been a challenge to get any real consistency, but we had a more settled squad for the last couple of weekends of the season, and that was reflected in the quality of our performances in the final few crucial games, and we`ll be looking to build on that.  As champions, we also have the added incentive of knowing we`ll be back in Europe next season, so want to finish as high as possible with next year`s rankings in mind too.”

The tournament starts on Friday with Milano and East Grinstead the opening opponents.

 

SCOTTISH CUP

The Scottish Cup enters the last 16 and the matches are due to be played on Saturday, mostly Sunday and there is the final encounter on Tuesday. However, some of the ties could be delayed due to the EuroHockey indoor and the forthcoming FIH Nations Cups.

Men`s cup holders Watsonians will aim to progress to the quarter-finals with a home tie against Dundee Wanderers, a side they beat 7-0 on the opening day of the season.

There are a couple of other all-first division ties – ESM entertain Clydesdale while Western Wildcats are at home to Grove Menzieshill. Elsewhere, Edinburgh University and Grange will also aim to progress to the next round against sides from a lower division.

However, there are a couple of interesting ties that might make the top flight sides think twice.  Dunfermline Carnegie, rooted at the bottom of the Premiership, are at home to St Andrews University who sit at the top of the second tier with only a single draw to blemish their season so far.   Also, Hillhead have done well to make the Premiership`s top six but have the long and perilous trip north to face a Gordonians side that sit fourth in the National League with a game in hand. There might be an upset in the wind at these venues.

Women`s Scottish Cup holders Watsonians will be in Porto this weekend but will travel to Championship 2 side Dunfermline Carnegie with the target to progress to the quarter-finals. Premiership leaders Clydesdale Western and Edinburgh University find themselves up against lower league opposition.

There could be a couple of close encounters if Premioership league results are to go by – Uddingston are at home to Western Wildcats with the latter winning by 3-2 at home while St Andrews University`s earlier clash with Inverleith finished in a goalless draw – so the cup ties could be equally tight.

On Tuesday second tier Edinburgh Hockey Club entertain Grange from the Premiership.

Finally, there is guaranteed a lower string side in the quarter-final draw as the last tie brings together Watsonians 2s against Clydesdale Western 3s.

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