Challengers look to put pressure on women`s and men`s indoor champions

It`s very early days in the indoor division 1 campaign but five teams have emerged from the first round of matches unscathed – women`s Clydesdale Western, Watsonians and Western Wildcats along with Western Wildcats and Inverleith in the men.

In the women’s competition Wildcats made good progress in seeing off both Grove Menzieshill and Inverleith last Sunday scoring 13 goals in the process with Lucy Findlay, Kate Holmes, Zara Kennedy and Rachel Osborne getting most of them.

But taking points off Clydesdale and Watsonians on Sunday is a different challenge altogether.

Watsonians` Sarah Jamieson, Katherine Holdgate, Emily Dark, Mairi Drummond and others were in lethal form as Keith Smith`s charges coasted to victory over Inverleith (5-0) and Grove (22-1) – so the Wildcats` defence will have to be on their toes.

Clydesdale emerged in pole position after three wins out of three last Sunday, and their victories were all pretty conclusive. It is clear that the Glasgow side are taking the defence of their title seriously. Olympic bronze medallist Wendy Justice is coach and they appeared for their games with a full squad of twelve.

And, of course, they are preparing for Europe in February.

In addition, Clydesdale have bolstered their squad with three additional players – GHK player/coach Fiona Semple who was a Clydesdale player last year, GHK outdoor captain Carly Bisset and Hillhead captain Carla MacNiven – so there is a real depth of talent in their squad.

We spoke to Carly on her move to Clydesdale. She explained that she played for Inverleith last indoor season – so why the move?

Carly said: “Making the decision to move was difficult, but ultimately with my work (as a doctor) and family commitments, travelling to Edinburgh for training wasn`t going to be possible for me this season. I`m really enjoying training and playing with Clydesdale Western so far.

“There`s a huge amount of talent within the team and I`m already learning so much from the other players and coaches.”

On Clydesdale`s three game victories last weekend, Carly remarked: “It`s always a tough shift starting the indoor season with a three game day, but it`s been a very promising start with a really attacking, dynamic style of play, with many different goal scorers within the squad.

“I`m looking forward to seeing how we gel further over the next few weeks and I`m already looking forward to Saturday`s fixtures against Wildcats and Grove.”

And last weekend Carly pitched in with a couple of goals for good measure.

Wildcats other game is against newly promoted Edinburgh CALA.

Further, Clydesdale have Grove Menzieshill as their other game while Watsonians start the day with Edinburgh University and then Dundee Wanderers.

Wanderers showed some touches of their old form with a 4-1 win over Edinburgh University in the opening game but the victory was soured by an ankle ligament injury to key defender Sam Sangster who may be out of action for several weeks. Nonetheless, the Taysiders might fancy some more points in their other games against Inverleith and CALA, especially if Amy Snelle and Lucy Williamson can continue finding the target.

The Edinburgh students are the only other side with points, they beat capital neighbours CALA.

Three sides, Inverleith, Edinburgh CALA and Grove Menzieshill have yet to get off the mark and face stern challenges on Sunday, and Grove and CALA play each other.

In the men`s competition Inverleith made the perfect start with three straight wins on the opening day last weekend. And once again the Edinburgh outfit are under the coaching eye of Start Neave, the same coach who led them to six indoor titles since 2011.

We caught up with Stuart and he had this to say: “I`m always happy coming away from a three game day with maximum points. I was also happy with how we played, especially given it was the first day of the season. It is therefore up to us to maintain that and improve in some areas of our game.”

We noticed the return of Stephen Dick to the Inverleith line-up and asked what he brought to the table. Stuart responded, “Stephen brings a huge amount of experience to the team and it is great to see him in such good shape physically. He is really a positive influence on the squad.”

Inverleith have two games on Saturday, first up Dundee Wanderers and then Dunfermline Carnegie – Inverleith will go into the weekend with confidence, especially with ten goal Kyle Taylor in such lethal form.

In one scenario Stuart Neave`s charges could end up sharing top spot with Western by the end of Saturday, the champions have a three game day with nine points available. They start with a tricky fixture against third placed Grove Menzieshill, that`s followed by Grange and the day ends against Dundee Wanderers.

Grove Menzieshill showed some of their old form with comfortable victories over Grange and Watsonians, but succumbed 8-4 to Inverleith on their final game. Can the Taysiders live with the free-scoring Western? Any team under the aegis of Bruce Cuthill and Billy McPherson can rise to the occasion. Much may depend on the finishing power of Luke Cranney – he scored ten goals last weekend, including a hat-trick against Inverleith.

But defensively the Dundonians will have to cope with the strike rate of Andrew McConnell, he got his ten goals last Saturday in only two game, and Western have several others who can make regular scoring contributions. Grove Menzieshill`s other outing is against Uddingston.

Dundee Wanderers, third in last season`s league, had mixed results last weekend, losing to Dunfermline and then beating Uddingston 10-3, but they will have to be at their best against Inverleith, Western and Watsonians to get something out of these games.

Dunfermline Carnegie are the other side with three points and on Saturday they take on Watsonians before Inverleith.

Uddingston, Watsonians and Grange have yet to break their respective ducks – something will give here as Grange have the other two in their sights in this second session of games.

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