Exciting tussles in National league 1 this weekend

There are interesting tussles this weekend in the search for this season`s National League titles, in the men’s leaders Western Wildcats take on 13-times champions Bromac Kelburne at Glasgow Green, while Grove Menzieshill will hold on to pole position in the women`s competition if they can see off Milne Craig Clydesdale Western on Tayside.

Grove Menzieshill moved to the top of women`s National League 1 profiting from the defeat of the Wildcats last Saturday, but this weekend the Taysiders will have to see off the challenge of Milne Craig Clydesdale Western to sustain that lofty status.

The Dundonians have certainly been the most consistent outfit in the division so far with five wins and a 3-3 draw with Wanderers to their credit. Grove Menzieshill have also been popping in the goals – 24 in six games – with Scotland striker Sarah Jamieson contributing in each outing with an overall total of eleven.

Despite Western`s up and down season so far, Saturday`s tussle between the great rivals is far from a foregone conclusion. The Glasgow club have a host of Scotland players and their 2-1 victory over Wildcats last weekend was a source of encouragement for Coach Derek Forsyth.

He said: “This was a much better performance, we dominated the game and gave Wildcats few chances to score.

“But we need to be much more clinical in front of goal considering the number of chances we created.”

As for the Grove Menzieshill games, Forsyth said: “This could be a tricky match for us and both sides have players returning from the Ireland test series. Grove Menzieshill have some good young players and they always play a tidy game.”

Western have just leapfrogged Dundee Wanderers into fourth place in the table, and Forsyth will be determined to preserve that position.

With the Wildcats defeat last week champions Edinburgh University have moved into second spot, they play Grange this weekend and the students would hope to be taking advantage of any slip-up by leaders Grove Menzieshill.

Wildcats` player/coach Kaz Cuthbert will be anxious to restore her charges` confidence after the Western defeat with a strong performance against Kelburne at Glasgow Green.

Dundee Wanderers had goalkeeper Carmin Dow to thank for the 3-1 score line not being more extensive against the Edinburgh students last weekend, the result was that they slipped out of the top four, so the Taysiders will hope that the three points against GHK will keep them in touch with the play-off positions.

The final contest on the card brings Watsonians to Hillhead that could be a close call as both sides strive for the middle ground in the table.

Wildcats are holding on to pole position in men’s National League 1, they lead Grange by only a single goal, and this weekend they travel to face a Bromac Kelburne side still smarting from their 3-0 reversal in Edinburgh.

The Auchenhowie pack are unbeaten so far after six games and doubtless coach Harry Dunlop would have accepted that scenario before the campaign began.

However, Dunlop was not so happy with his charges last weekend against Clydesdale, despite winning by a single goal. “I don`t think we played well, we didn`t have the urgency or flair we usually have, however it`s important to win when you are players short and the team plays badly.

“So I`m certainly not unhappy about the result.”

Having played the champions many times over recent years, Dunlop will know that any sort of sub-standard performance will simply not do.

“Wildcats can certainly beat Kelburne, however we will need to be at the very top of our game to do it,” said Dunlop. “We have very clear ideas on how they play and the question will be whether we can influence the match enough to stop them playing their usual game.”

In a nutshell Wildcats will need to stifle Kelburne`s usual swashbuckling style of attacking hockey that allows the likes of Johnny and Michael Christie along Jack MacKenzie, Ben Peterson and Josh Cairns from set pieces to rattle in the goals.

It can be done, Grange did it last weekend and the free-flowing Paisley side drew a blank for the first time in a long while.

Kelburne could in fact go back to the top of the division if they can see off Wildcats on Saturday and then Uddingston the following day. However, coach Gordon Shepherd will remember that it was the Lanarkshire side that caused the upset of last season with a 2-1 win over the 13-times champions, a result that almost cost them the league title.

Grange find themselves up against Edinburgh University at Peffermill, and nothing is ever certain in this derby encounter. Although Grange have had the better of this contest over the recent years, there has been occasions when the students have upset the applecart.

However, Grange`s 3-0 win over Kelburne last weekend was an impressive result, Frank Ryan was the catalyst on this occasion with two second half strikes, bringing his total for the season to four.

Grange will still be without teenager Callum MacKenzie, he is with the Great Britain under-21 squad in Malaysia, but there is still Luke Cranney, Cammie Fraser, Jacob Tweedie and Dan Coultas at penalty corners to make the breakthrough.

The Edinburgh students are certainly piling in the goals – 20 in their five matches so far – and they are mostly coming from a host of different players.

Grange could take over pole position if they can take the three points, on the other hand the students are knocking on the door of the top four, and they have a game in hand, an upset here would advance their cause.

Grove Menzieshill currently lie in fourth spot and a home win over Clydesdale would consolidate that position. The Taysiders would seem to still be struggling to find consistency of performance, last weekend they put four past Inverleith and the following day finished their Scottish Cup tie against Uddingston 4-4 and only progressed after a penalty shoot-out.

After a tough match against Wildcats Coach Callum McLeod`s task is to pick up the squad to take something from their visit to Tayside.

It has taken Hillhead six games to finally get off the mark, yet they did it in style with a 4-0 win over Uddingston, Graeme Campbell was the catalyst with a second half hat-trick. Saturday could see the Old Anniesland outfit progress further up the table with a home win over Inverleith.

The final clash between Uddingston and Dundee Wanderers could be intriguing, both sides have only won one game in the campaign so far, so it could be a hard-graft three points for the winner.

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