Top Teams Clash in the Open/Men’s Premiership

This weekend sees the contest of the winning ethics in the Open/Men’s Premiership, that is the top four sides play each other.

Fourth placed Uddingston welcome league leaders Western Wildcats to Bothwell Castle. In some respects, this could be an interesting struggle between Uddy with one of the best organised defences in the land and Western Wildcats who have handed out a mauling to all the sides they have encountered so far, that is 38 goals in their six games.

Uddy did well last season to finish in fourth place and it appears they have started this campaign where they left off with four wins and a draw. They are in fourth spot, five points behind Wildcats but with a game in hand. They also have home advantage with a home support behind them, that will always help.

Western Wildcats have so far won all their games in some style, scoring plenty of goals with Fraser Moran, Adam Mackenzie, Rob Harwood and Camerson Moran regular contributors. So far, the Wildcats seem unstoppable.

So what did Western Wildcats’ coach Vishal Marwaha have to say.  “The start of the season has been really positive, and the success so far has come from hard work and commitment of the whole squad.  We have been consistent in our performances, worked well as a team and taken our opportunities when they’ve come along.”

And on the Uddingston game, Vishal had this to say. “Uddingston have also started the season well, so we’re expecting a tough game on Saturday.   We’ll be looking to get the win, but we know we’ll need to perform well and be at our best to come away with the result.”

Turning to Edinburgh, there is the local derby between second place Watsonians and ESM Lions who are just below them. Again, the win ethic is evident, the Lions have now won five games in the trot and have picked up a head of steam but have they the strength in depth to upset a Watsonians side that have a perfect record after their five games. It could be a close call as they are both on 15 points with Watsonians ahead by two goals but with a game in hand. However, the Lions will have to look out for Charlie Jack who has ten goals to his credit already this season, but also the likes of Dean Schenck, Harry Yarr, Guy Rowson and others who have contributed to the 25 goal tally so far.

Former Scotland striker Sam Judge, now head coach at Watsonians men, related similar sentiments to Vishal Marwaha. “Yes, very happy with the start so far. A little frustrated with the goals we’ve conceded so still lots to work on. Saturday will be a really tough game. ESM have also had a good start so we will need to be at our best to get a result.”

FSEG Clydesdale have galloped into fifth place after an up and down start, they won the first two games, then lost the next three, and last weekend returned to winning ways with a 7-1 crushing of Dunfermline Carnegie. So, what are we going to have on Saturday at home to Grove Menzieshill? The Taysiders have struggled a little bit this season with their only triumph a narrow 3-2 win over Carnegie and a draw with Hillhead in the opening fixture. The odds would suggest another win for the Dale, but the Taysiders might have something to say on that.

Edinburgh University have taken a slight nosedive recently despite doing well at the EHL, the champions have dropped to sixth and taken only two points from their last three league games. Retaining the Premiership title is waning a little. To be fair, the students have suffered a spate of injuries to key players recently, that has hardly helped the cause. However, they have the chance to reverse that trend at home to an Inverleith side that are seventh and only two points adrift. A win here is essential for the champions aspirations.

The other two fixtures on the card involve teams in the lower echelons. Grange, surprisingly second from bottom, are at home to newly promoted Kelburne and a win here would ease growing concerns about lack of points on the board. However, that might not be so easy as the Buddies do have a win under their belts and may be far from a pushover.

Finally, Hillhead are at home to Dunfermline and must fancy their first win of the season. The Glasgow side might be in ninth place but in their five games so far they have recorded three draws and both defeats have been by the odd goal in seven so they must be favourites for this one as the Fifers have had a torrid return to the topflight.

Despite the promise of some changes to the Women’s Premiership, in fact not much was altered as many of the games were blown away by the inclement weather. Hopefully this coming weekend will pass unscathed.

However, Watsonians opened up a three-point gap at the top of the Premiership with a win over Grange and will look to consolidate with another three points at St Andrews University. Watsonians early season form has been impressive, all games won, 24 goals scored and none conceded, impressive. Sarah Jamieson is also in clinical form in front of goal, and that’s not good news for the St Andrews students. She may have retired from international hockey but not from scoring goals in the Premiership. In contrast, St Andrews lost their first fixture last weekend at home to GHK and dropped down to sixth, so it could be a challenging time against free-scoring Watsonians.

Azets Clydesdale Western are three points behind, and a game less played after an idle weekend, but should return to the fray away to an Uddingston side that have collected five points from their three games. Despite only conceding two goals so far, the Uddy defence will now have to cope with the strike power of Jenny Eadie, Millie Steiger, Bronwyn Shields and others.

The battle for the middle ground in fact changed little due to so many postponed games, but GHK took advantage to move up to third after seeing off St Andrews. So you would expect GHK to advance their cause further with another three points against Hillhead on Saturday. Grange also should shake off losing their unbeaten record with a home win against Glasgow University who rest at the foot of the table. So, both GHK and Grange look to steal some ground on rivals Uddingston and St Andrews who have difficult outings coming up this weekend.

Wildcats almost seem to be in hibernation, they have played only two games, missed out on both their fixtures last weekend, but now have the chance to show their teeth at home to a Gordonians side that have yet to get off the mark.

A hat-trick from Izzy Hogarth was the catalyst in Edinburgh University’s 5-3 win over Glasgow in the midweek Women’s Premiership catch-up match. As a result, Edinburgh scampered up the table from eighth to fourth, but it did little to raise Glasgow off the bottom rung. Edinburgh’s other scorers were Dina Finn and Zara Kennedy while Emily Walls, Lucy Ferris and Natasha Glasson replied for Glasgow.

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