Edinburgh University set about the defence of their Premiership title

A new Premiership dawn is in the offing, and all the sides start with a clean slate for the new season, but this weekend only sees the start of the Open/Men`s competition.

Edinburgh University are the target for this season`s chasing pack. The students were almost all conquering last season under the coaching aegis of Neil Allan.   Edinburgh won the Premiership title for the first time, four points ahead of Western Wildcats. They went on to grab the sole place in the elite EHL after a 3-1 win over Wildcats, Jamie Golden getting all three. The hat-trick was dashed with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Watsonians in the Scottish Cup Final, and that involved surrendering a two goal lead. But not a bad haul nonetheless.

So what about this season for the Edinburgh students?

Firstly we`re told there is a change in the coaching set-up with a trio of Jamie Golden, Martin Beckford and Neil Wilson now in charge.

So we caught up with Martin to ask about the targets for the coming season.   Here is what he had to say:

“We worked very hard to earn the title last season and the privilege of being defending champions does mean that all the other teams will be out to beat us even more so than usual, which is a pressure we will embrace.  Last season was full of great achievements, however we understand that counts for nothing now and we have to go out and show the determination and quality to keep on top.”

With the usual merry-go-round of players before the season gets started, especially at universities, several players have signed up for Edinburgh. Scotland international Jamie Green has come from German side Der Club An Der Alster while others include Angus Miller (Uddingston), Matthew Leiper (Watsonians), Angus Mo (Grange), Fin Calder (Harborne), John Donald (Grove Menzieshill) and Zak Turtle (Inverleith), and there might be more in the offing.

On the other hand some have left the ranks – and they include Alex Wilson, Tom Fox, Declan Bradley and Callum Munro.

So are the students even stronger this coming season? Martin said; “As a university side, we are used to personnel changes every off-season, as players who have been in the club for several years graduate and new students join.  This summer has been no different, with some key players from last season starting careers all over the UK and some really good new players joining the squad. We’re excited to see how the squad will perform and have been working in pre-season to integrate the newcomers and make the most of having even greater squad depth and competition for places.

“There are some excellent teams in the league who will be challenging for the top positions and we know we need to focus on continuing to improve, building on the high standards and consistency we demonstrated last season.  We are really pleased with the group we have assembled and are looking forward to rising to the challenges ahead of us.”

However, any side that boasts Jamie Golden in the ranks has an obvious advantage. Last season he was top goal scorer by a country mile, both from open play and set pieces.

Edinburgh University have already been out and about – at the end of August they went to Ulster and confronted their top sides, beating Lisnagarvey 4-2 but going down 1-0 to Banbridge.

The defence of the title starts on Saturday at Peffermill against Edinburgh neighbours ESM who finished a creditable fifth last season.

And there is also Europe to look forward to. The Scottish champions are drawn against Austrian side SV Arminen and Lille from France, and only the top side progresses to the knock-out stages, a challenging assignment.

So who will be the chasing pack, lying in wait for the Edinburgh students to slip up?

Runners-up last season Western Wildcats, again coached by Vishal Marwaha, will undoubtedly be there in the mix.    It would appear there will be little change in their ranks for the coming season, although Iain McFadden has gone to Spain but Gordon Amour has come to Auchenhowie from Grange.   On Saturday Western are away to newly promoted Dunfermline Carnegie, and they will hope to leave Fife with the three points.

Also up there should be Watsonians, winners of the Scottish Cup last season.  Despite that, Watsonians form dropped off a little towards the conclusion of the championship last season – one win, one defeat and three draws were the details.

The Edinburgh side have signed up Euan Burgess from Loughborough but will be without Dan Coultas, Tom Swarbrick, Fraser McCurry and Adam Carter for the coming campaign.  But coach Sam Judge did say: “We have brought a few youngsters into the squad which we are excited about and have another few from down south who have relocated to Edinburgh.” Sounds encouraging from a Watsonians perspective.

Watsonians start their bid for silverware away to Kelburne who are back in the top flight after a few seasons in the second tier.

So will any other side step up to the podium? Uddingston were the rising star of last season finishing a creditable fourth and made the play-offs… but no further.     And there is also ESM who were fifth with a very solid season.   The latter certainly have a task on Saturday against champions Edinburgh University while Uddy travel to Inverleith. It will be interesting to see of either of these sides make a further impact this season.

Last season Grange were in transition mode, they lost several key players and gave Premiership experience to promising youngsters. As a result the Edinburgh side slipped back to sixth in the table last season. Whether they will fare better in the coming campaign is yet to be revealed, but they start off with a potentially perilous trip to Titwood to face Clydesdale. Perilous because the Dale had a disappointing start to last season, but finished off with four wins and a draw to end top of the lower split. If that sort of form continues on Saturday, then the visitors will have to work hard for their points.

It will be interesting to see if any of the bottom six sides raise their profile to challenge for a top six place this time round, but the winner of the clash between Grove Menzieshill and Hillhead in Dundee will make a positive start. Grove Menzieshill, still under head coach Gavin Byers, has announced a few new imports, Fergus Roberts from Inverleith, Rory Taylor from Monarchs and the return of Ollie James from Aberdeen, so they could be a force on their own turf.

 

 

 

 

 

Recent posts:

Back to all news
Back to top