Impressive starts for Watsonians and Clydesdale Western in Alanya

Scottish clubs made an impressive start to the women`s EuroHockey Club Challenge tournament in Alanya on Friday. Watsonians, in their European debut, had a strong 5-1 victory over Irish side Catholic Institute in pool A while Clydesdale Western were 3-0 winners over Italian champions Argentia.

Watsonians sit at the top of Pool A on goal difference from Czech champions SK Slavia Prague who were 3-0 winners over AHTC Wien from Austria.

A delighted Watsonians` coach Keith Smith said: “It was a really good game! We knew Institute would be tough opponents, and our aim for the first game was really just to set out our stall for the tournament with a good first performance, so to win and pick up full points from the game was terrific.

“We were a bit tentative in the first quarter which was understandable as we knew they were a real threat, but after that we really imposed our game on them, and kept them under control. What I thought was most impressive was that when they scored to make it 2-1 we weren`t rattled; we just kept doing what had been working well for us and made good decisions at the right times.”

In their first ever European venture it took the Scottish champions some time to find their sea legs and there was no scoring at the interval. The second half proved more fruitful, four minutes in Scotland`s leading goal scorer Sarah Jamieson broke the deadlock, at a counterattack Katie Crawford fed the ball to Sarah Jamieson whose unstoppable shot flew into the roof of the net.

That was followed six minutes later when Jamieson picked up an aerial pass and set up Susan Hamilton to fire low into the far corner of the net. But soon after Ciara Moloney pulled one back at a penalty corner.

However, the fourth quarter proved decisive, up stepped set piece expert Emily Dark to fire in a quick-fire double for 4-1, followed by a solo run and low shot from Jamieson, and that was the game over. Today Watsonians take on Wien and another win would propel the Edinburgh side towards Monday`s promotion semi-finals.

Clydesdale had their noses in front in the first quarter against Argentia when Margery Justice converted from the spot. That is how the score stood until early in the second half with Emma McGregor doubling the Glasgow side`s tally from open play. Then in the closing minutes Holly Steiger added a third for an impressive start to the campaign.

Clydesdale coach Wendy Justice had this to say after the game. “I have to say that the team worked so hard in support of each other and delivering on the game plan. We were positive, quick and alert from the starting whistle and were successful in applying pressure on the opponent`s back line from the outset, and from which they struggled to really get a foothold in the game.

“We won it by three, but given the balance of circle penetrations – second half stats read 28 to us and three to them – we could have converted far more and put the game to bed much earlier than the fourth quarter. But it is the first game and often takes a bit for teams to shed any trepidation of the unknown and go out and deliver what they are truly capable of.

” We are delighted but big game tomorrow (Saturday). Certainly looks the harder of the two matches to come. So here`s hoping we can deliver another good team performance.”

Today Clydesdale will hope to continue their winning sequence against host side Gaziantep Polisgucu who beat Gintrstrekte by the same 3-0 score.

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