Pivotal weekend as indoor hockey enters the Pool stages

Dundee Inverleith Indoor w

With the league section of the first division championship done and dusted the competition enters the pool stages, with semi-final places on offer for the top two sides and the spectre of relegation for the bottom teams.

In the men’s competition, champions Inverleith have the toughest of openings; first up they take on their traditional rivals Grove Menzieshill, and then face bottom side Western Wildcats later in the day.

Inverleith top the pool after taking forward the results from the league programme following a narrow 3-2 win over the Taysiders but that could be seriously challenged if Grove Menzieshill can win this weekend`s return. It was a close call last time, the sides were locked at 2-2 with a couple of minutes left, then Patrick Christie stepped in with a late winner from open play.

Stuart Neave, Inverleith`s coach, will be encouraged by his side`s increasingly potent penalty corner routine with Adam McKenzie and Stephen Dick in form, that could give them the edge over their Tayside rivals.

On the game, Neave casually said: “Our focus will remain on how we are playing regardless of who the opposition is.

“That said, the Grove Menzieshill game will certainly give us a good test of that, as they obviously have some very capable players.”

The incentive is clear, a win over Grove Menzieshill would guarantee them a place in the semi-finals, and avoiding high-flying Bromac Kelburne at the same time.

Inverleith`s second outing is against Wildcats who they beat 7-3 last week in the league, and yet the score was only 3-2 and then 4-3 at certain points in the game.

Perhaps the pressure is more on the Taysiders, they have to win to have a more realistic chance of topping the pool. But since dropping five points on the opening day, the Dundonians have been in rampant form with four straight victories and 34 goals in the process.

The 19-times Scottish champions will be feeling confident in their second outing against Clydesdale, a side they put ten past in the league.

Kelburne and Grange would appear to be the chief contenders for the top places in the other pool with the league winners from Paisley in pole position on maximum points.

Grange are three points behind Kelburne at the top of the pool and may have to settle for second place unless they can stifle the lethal finishing of Johnny Christie. The former Scotland striker scored five times in Kelburne`s 6-3 win in the league encounter – his total count has now risen to 29 in seven games.

The Edinburgh side will then need to see off Hillhead in their second game to hold on to second spot. Grange will rely on the sharpness of Frank Ryan, Luke Cranney and Callum Milne to see them through that hurdle.

In a second competition there will be a drive to avoid bottom place in the respective pools and the unwelcome invitation to the relegation play-off. That dubious honour could fall to either Hillhead or Uddingston in Pool A along with Clydesdale and Wildcats in the other group, and these side face each other head-to-head in early part of the day.

Pool B in the women`s championships looks to be on a knife edge with both Edinburgh University and Milne Craig Western on seven points, the students have the advantage of a slightly superior goal difference.

The sides meet in the opening game, if the earlier 3-3 draw is anything to go by it should be another close encounter. Both teams are almost certain to qualify for the semi-finals, but the pool winner is likely to avoid Wanderers in the semi-finals.

In their later encounters Edinburgh and Western take on CALA and Bon-Accord respectively, the results may not be in doubt but pole position in the pool may finally come down to goal difference.

Wanderers look favourites to top the other pool and the key encounter will be the re-run of last weekend`s clash with Tayside neighbours Grove Menzieshill. Wanderers triumphed in the league encounter last weekend, but not without some difficulty. They were behind to a Sue Hamilton goal at the interval, rallied and took the points through strikes by Amy Snell and Vikki Bunce from the spot.

Wildcats and Bon-Accord both have three points and are favourites to avoid the relegation play-off, but they must complete the double over Inverleith and CALA respectively to ensure their safety.

 

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