Race for women’s indoor title starts on Sunday

And so to the start of the indoor season. Sunday at DISC sees the opening salvos of the women`s division 1 with ten games – the men follow on next Saturday.

Watsonians are the current champions and will represent Scotland in Europe; they beat rivals Clydesdale Western after a dramatic 2-1 shoot-out win in the final after the teams were locked at 2-2 in normal time.

But will they triumph again this year?

It is a little unpredictable – success or failure in the indoor depends a lot on the strength of the squad turning out for each session. That is, how many of the outdoor squad are regularly available for indoor duty from December to February. And now there is also the impact of the build-up for the Nations Cup in late February.

We caught up with Keith Smith, coach of Watsonians, and he highlighted the issues facing the champions this indoor season. He said, “It`s been really tight at the top for the last few years at indoor, and this year will be no different, particularly with internationals unavailable for most of the indoor season due to Nations Cup preparation. That could have a significant impact on a number of teams, not just us, and certainly makes the league a lot more unpredictable. But it also provides an opportunity for some of our other players to take a bigger role, and we`ve got confidence in their ability to step up to the challenge.”

Keith highlighted the recruitment of three additional players specifically for the indoor campaign – Iona Colquhoun joins from Grange while Katie Maccallum returns from Southgate, and Anna Richardson has joined from Pembroke Wanderers. So there could still be real depth to the Watsonians squad.

The champions start of their defence against Hillhead and Wildcats.

Meanwhile, last season`s other finalist Clydesdale Western could steal a march on Watsonians as they have three matches on Sunday and could amass nine points with the extra game, if all goes according to their plan. The Titwood side start against Edinburgh University, then Grange and finally Uddingston.

At the end of last season Clydesdale came so close to retaining their indoor title, losing out on a narrow shoot-out. And they have taken the outdoor Premiership by storm, so how much of that success will rub off on the indoor? But, as with Watsonians, they will probably lose players to the Nations Cup build-up.

So who else might challenge for honours? Last season it was Edinburgh University and Western Wildcats who completed the top four. Both will have a chance to show their potential on the opening day – the Edinburgh students face Clydesdale while Wildcats take on Watsonians.

The remaining teams in the first division are Dundee Wanderers, Hillhead, Uddingston and Grange – it will be interesting to see if any of these sides can make a challenge for a top four place.

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