Division one places at stake

SUBWAY NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE PLAY-OFFS 
–  SUNDAY 06 MAY 2012 AT PEFFERMILL.

The final place in the men`s Subway national league
division one will be an all-Edinburgh affair between CALA and
Watsonians on Sunday at Peffermill.   It is the classic
scenario, CALA an out-of-form team at the foot of the top flight
against a Watsonians side that have embraced the win ethic in the
second division.

However, CALA can take some comfort from the fact that
traditionally it is the team from division one that generally comes
out on top in these one-off encounters.   In the autumn
newly promoted CALA started their return to the top division with
acceptable form, seven points from the opening five games was
considered reasonable by coach Neil Allan at the time.  
But injuries and loss of form took their toll and CALA slipped
steadily down the table to second bottom spot, ahead of
automatically relegated VWS Dundee Wanderers.

In fact, CALA have failed to win a fixture since the winter
break, but most importantly they lost 3-2 to AMN Hillhead and could
only manage a 3-3 draw with Edinburgh University – both rivals for
the relegation play-off spot.  In the final denouement, CALA
needed to beat Clydesdale to have an outside chance of avoiding the
play-offs, but instead went down heavily 7-2 to a revitalised
Titwood outfit.

CALA have the firepower in David Guy, Karl Clarke and David
Patterson to cause the Watsonian`s defence some bother, but the
loss of the influential Scott Sutherland, now playing in Australia,
could be crucial.

In contrast, Watsonians have been on a winning streak since 19
November, nine convincing victories and only a 3-3 draw with Stepps
to interrupt the sequence.  Their last reversal was a 6-5 loss
against Uddingston, but the memory of that was expunged with a 7-1
defeat of the Lanarkshire club in their final league encounter of
the season.

Watsonians have the benefit of the vast experience of
player/coach Callum Wood, a former Scottish internationalist, to
guide them back to the top flight.   They missed out on
the automatic promotion spot to AAM Gordonians, ironically Wood`s
former club, but must fancy their chances of seeing off CALA,
especially if their top striker Magnus Ferrier can find some
form.

The Watsonians club are also contesting the women`s play-off
against Western Wildcats who finished second bottom of the first
division.   The Edinburgh side were narrowly pipped by
Inverleith for the division two title, and might have done better
but for three consecutive draws against Granite City Wanderers,
Inverleith and Erskine Stewarts Melville in their final league
encounters.

The Wildcats, for so long in eighth place in the first division,
looked to have avoided the play-off clash altogether, but in the
final game of the season Grange EL unexpectedly beat CALA Edinburgh
2-1 and overtook the Wildcats by a single point.   But
their poor form in the second half of the season contributed to
their fate, the Wildcats collected only a single in a 4-4 draw with
relegated GHK, and their final 2-1 home defeat by Edinburgh
University was the clincher.

Murray Laing, Wildcats` coach, emphasised the importance of a
win on Sunday.   “Staying in division 1 is not only seen
as import, it`s essential.   There is a degree of
cautious confidence, but Watsonians will provide a stern test – in
play-offs the supposed underdog generally play with more
determination and less fear, and have the habit of winning
games.   In contrast we have usually struggled for
results, and that`s why we`re in this position.”

The Wildcats will almost have a full pack on duty, long term
injury victim Stephanie Curran is still out, but under 16 national
player Katie Devlin is included.

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