Kelburne’s momentum continues in Men’s Indoor National League 1

Lee Morton indoor Kelb

There seems no stopping Bromac Kelburne in their quest to take the indoor championship for the first time, and drive a wedge through the recent monopoly of Inverleith and Grove Menzieshill.

The outdoor champions notched up 21 goals in total as they eased past Clydesdale by 9-4 and then defeated Western Wildcats 12-2 in their two games in the men’s indoor hockey first division at the Bell`s Sports Centre in Perth.

The opening match against Clydesdale was effectively over in the first 11 minutes when two goals each by Johnny Christie and German Jonas Nommensen without reply gave the Paisley side a four goal cushion. By the interval the tally had advanced to 6-2, with Lee Morton and Christie bagging his hat-trick on target for the league leaders, while James Nairn and Euan Fraser replied for Clydesdale.

In the second half Clydesdale scored a couple and the Kelburne goal machine dried up a little, but strikes by Morton for his second of the match, Christie again and Kiwi Nick Finlayson completed the 9-4 rout, Andrew Allan got a late penalty corner consolation for the Glasgow side.

Kelburne followed up with a 12-2 victory over Wildcats to hold on to their pole position. The match was a personal triumph for Christie; the former international striker notched a double hat-trick, making his aggregate total 20 in the five matches so far.

Christie opened up with a first half hat-trick as the leaders strolled into a 5-1 lead by the interval – Adam Bain and Morton were the other scorers. The second half descended into a goal avalanche, as Christie scored another three, Chris Nelson got two while Bain and Gary Maitles completed the scoring.

Grove Menzieshill Hillhead indoor

Champions Inverleith opened their day with a nine goal win over Clydesdale to remain only a point behind Kelburne at the top. The score was four at the interval, Paul Taylor opened with a penalty corner strike in ten minutes, Stuart Hatton followed, then Stephen Dick added a couple before the interval.

The goals continued at regular intervals in the second period; Dick got his hat-trick, Hatton bagged his second of the game, in the closing encounters Patrick Christie scored twice while Kyle Taylor got the other.

Inverleith then racked up another nine against Hillhead, this time Dick and Christie both scored four times and Chris Bird got the other.

Grove Menzieshill put aside last weekend`s disappointment with an opening 8-4 win over Hillhead. The Taysiders were three up at the interval through Ben Cromar, Gavin Tomlinson from a penalty corner and Ben Cosgrove.

The Dundonians then roared into a convincing 8-1 advantage as the final minutes approached; Tomlinson scored another two set pieces while the other goals came from Ross McPherson, Cromar again and teenager Cammie Golden. Grove Menzieshill then seemed to take their foot off the pedal and allowed the Glasgow side to score three late consolations through Iain Duke, Ewan Campbell and Fraser Ward.

The Taysiders followed up with a 10-0 win over Clydesdale in the final game of the day – Cromar picked up another three goals and Tomlinson a further two.

Grange started their progress up the table with an avalanche of goals in a 10-5 victory over Western Wildcats. That result was not on the cards in the opening seven minutes when a double from Scott McCartney and another by Joe McConnell put the Wildcats 3-1 ahead with Frank Ryan getting Grange`s only counter.

But by half-time the Edinburgh side were 7-3 in front with Ryan collecting his second followed by five individual scorers. Callum Milne made it 8-3, but that signalled a mini-comeback by the Wildcats with McConnell and McCartney bringing the total back to 8-5. Grange then sealed the game in the final three minutes with Ryan and Milne again finding the net.

Grange then slipped into fourth place after seeing off Uddingston 3-1, all the goals came in the first half with Callum Milne bagging a brace.

Hillhead started their day off in a positive fashion with a 6-3 win over Uddingston Riva. Midway through the second half the result was still in doubt as the teams were tied at 2-2, goals by Hillhead`s Fraser Ward and Iain Hilton were cancelled out by Barry Platt and Stephen Percy. With 12 minutes left the Glasgow side stepped it up and doubles by Callum Duke and Ewan Campbell advanced to score to a comfortable 6-2 before Percy notched a late consolation for Uddingston

Promotion aspirants Dundee Wanderers continued their dominance of the second division with a narrow 9-8 win over challengers Watsonians. Bobby Ralph was the chief tormentor with four goals and there were two each for Ross Glashan and Eliot Sandison.

Wanderers` perfect record was maintained with a 10-2 win over Edinburgh University – there were hat-tricks each for Fergus Sandison and Sean Dowie.

 

Grange Wildcats men indoor

Photos by Duncan Gray

Recent posts:

Back to all news
Back to top