Penultimate stage of the Scottish Cup

This season sees Scottish Cup semi-finals of contrasts. In the men`s, the first semi-final is the clash of the underdogs while the second is the clash of the titans. In contrast, the women`s involves the top three sides in the Premiership and the side ranked seventh. It could barely be more different.

Let’s begin with the women’s cup competition and two very interesting fixtures to ponder, with goals and big performances expected.

The tie involving Edinburgh University and Western Wildcats could be the juiciest – after all it`s 2v3 in the Premiership. Both sides are on a bit of a roll in recent weeks, you have to go back to 15 October to see the Edinburgh students last reversal – a run of nine games undefeated. Good effort. They are now level on points with Watsonians at the top of the Premiership, albeit with a game more played.

The Cats have made third spot their own after a run of four undefeated games. Ironically their last loss was at the hands of Edinburgh University with a 2-0 score courtesy of goals from Eve Pearson and Jika Nyirenda. In fact, the latter has been a consistent striker for the students with six goals since the March restart.

Although six points behind Edinburgh in the Premiership table, the Cats have already had a head turning moment this season – the 1-1 draw against Watsonians was a great effort.

So this could be a close encounter in a one-off contest.

In the other tie Watsonians go up against seventh placed Hillhead. The sides last met a few weeks ago with the Edinburgh side emerging 5-2 winners – a result that finally consigned Hillhead to the lower six competition.

That day Watsonians strolled to a five goal lead, Sarah Jamieson bagging a brace, but the Glasgow side recovered slightly with goals from Emma Blackstock and Anna Winter.

Hillhead will be out to do all they can to prevent the cup holders progressing to the final, and in a cup semi-final they have every chance to clock up a sensational victory.

It is a big three weeks for Grange men – this weekend the Scottish Cup tie against Western, followed by the EuroHockey Trophy in Vienna, and finished off by the Premiership clash with Western… potentially the league decider.

Grange are unbeaten in all competitions so far this season. So what makes Grange tick? Martin Shepherdson, the Grange manager, explained: “We are a side that works hard for each other. We have a good squad and a great spirit, and enjoy playing together…we also have a great blend of experience and youth.” Not a bad combination.

And Grange have been rattling in the goals – 80 in 14 league matches. The problem for the opposition is that the strikes come from many quarters – Duncan Riddell, Dylan Bean, Joe Waterston, Jacob Tweedie, Fraser Heigh and Rory McCann…and others.

So how important is this Scottish Cup tie to the Edinburgh side? Shepherdson said: “We want to win as many games as we can this season, and so the cup is important to us. Our name has not been on the trophy for a couple of years, so we want to see it back there.”

On league form Grange and Western are currently the two top sides in the land, and it would be a totally pointless exercise trying to find evidence of a favourite for this contest – that will emerge on the day. Certainly Grange won the Premiership encounter 5-1, and that was a very good result for the Raeburn Place outfit, but that was in the first half of the season, and in any case league results are not necessarily good guides to cup outcomes.

But the Grange defence will have to be on their toes to snuff out the striking threat of Andrew McConnell who is regularly banging in the goals for the Auchenhowie side. And if he is not on target, there is always Fraser Moran and Rob Harwood, and others. Whatever, it should be a cracker!

The first semi-final tie between Grove Menzieshill and ESM is a fascinating prospect. It is a classic scenario between a team used to the winning ethic at the apex of the second tier on the verge of promotion against a side towards the foot of the Premiership and looking to avoid relegation.

However, that is perhaps a little unfair on ESM, in the last three league outings the Edinburgh side have picked up seven points and pulled themselves out of relegation difficulty, and at the same time dumped Hillhead out of the cup in the previous round. So green shoots in the ESM camp.

So what of Grove Menzieshill? The Dundonians won the Scottish Cup on a couple of occasions in the past but they are presently competing in the National League. However, they top the division having lost only one game in 14 outings and are in line for promotion. And the Taysiders have already done their piece of giant killing when the dumped Kelburne out of the competition, albeit in a shoot-out after a 2-2 draw.

There’s also cup and plate action this weekend. On Saturday FMGM Monarchs meet Strathclyde University and Edinburgh Hockey Club play Gordonians in the Men’s Scottish Plate Semi Finals at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.

Glasgow Green also plays host to the Men’s District Plate semi-final matches between Fjordhus Reivers and Kelburne 2s; and Ellon versus Dumfries.

Over in Peffermill Western Wildcats 2s face Dunfermline Carnegie 2s and Hillhead 2s take on Edinburgh University 2s in the Men’s District Cup semi-finals; while in the Men’s Reserve Cup Grange 3s play Edinburgh University 3s and Western Wildcats 3s play Watsonians 3s. Watsonians 4s take on Dundee Wanderers 3s in the Men’s Reserve Plate.

On Sunday Uddingston play Erskine Stewart’s Melville in the Women’s Scottish Plate semi-finals while Kelburne 2s face Glasgow Academicals in the Women’s District Plate at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.

Aberdeen Sports Village hosts Shetland against Dunfermline Carnegie in the Women’s District Cup, while at Peffermill Preston Lodge play Edinburgh University 4s in the Women’s District Cup, and in the Women’s District Plate Edinburgh Hockey Club 3s play Watsonians 3s and Grange Ladies face Inverleith.

Live stream

The Scottish Cup Semi Finals will be live streamed by Scottish Hockey for free on Watch.Hockey this weekend.

Scottish Hockey is investigating how it can enhance its live streaming output across a number of competitions, and encourages everyone to watch all the upcoming live streams, and feedback using our survey forms on the quality; platforms; and general opinion of our live streaming output.

It’s a great opportunity to inform our live streaming strategy for the years ahead.

Watch.Hockey can be accessed via its app on the web here:

– Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1502181056

– Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nagra.ion.fih

– Web: https://watch.hockey/

Specific links to the live streams will be issued in due course.

Feedback forms will be published after the live streams have completed.

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