Scottish Cup semi-finals on the menu this weekend

The women`s Scottish Cup semi-finalists have produced quality affairs between Premiership top six sides. Edinburgh University face off against Clydesdale Western to be followed by Western Wildcats against Watsonians.

According to current league positions Clydesdale and Watsonians might fancy themselves to progress to the final…but the cup is a different beast and league form is not necessarily a realistic guide.

The Clydesdale bandwagon was rolling along nicely until the Premiership leaders travelled to the Edinburgh students and came back along the M8 on the wrong end of a 2-1 defeat, Cat Nelli scoring twice. Coach Mark Ralph will need to steady the ship if his charges are not to lose out on silverware as the season reaches the business end of proceedings.

But the Edinburgh students have had mixed form since the season restarted with a win, two draws and a defeat – so what are we going to get on Sunday? What is probably likely is a close encounter with the winner uncertain at this stage.

The same could be said of the Wildcats v Watsonians clash. The Cats are in fifth place in the Premiership, ten points behind the champions. But last time out it was the Cats who clawed their way to victory with a single goal from Lexi MacMillan.

However, since that hiatus from the form that won them the title last season Watsonians have recovered their composure and recorded four straight wins in the top six competition – so perhaps the in-form side. The Cats won their place in the penultimate round with a 4-0 win over Orkney last weekend.

In contrast, the men`s semis show a little imbalance in the draw. From the Premiership`s top four Edinburgh University are definitely in the semi and will await the winner of Thursday evening`s contest between Western Wildcats and Watsonians.   Either way this season`s results would suggest a close affair…in the league the students drew 2-2 with Watsonians and lost only by 3-2 and 6-5 to Wildcats – it would not take much to turn these results around in Edinburgh`s favour.

But recent form has not been too good for Neil Allan`s young charges, recently three straight defeats culminating in the 3-1 reversal against Hillhead – so there is maybe work to be done here. However, Edinburgh reached the semi-final stage after a convincing 6-1 win over ESM Lions last Sunday.  The students had several scorers – Kyle Flockhart got two while Keir Robb, Jonny Bradley, Iain McFadden and Sam Hunt got the others.  Neil Allan will be hoping that these players and others will be equally lethal on Saturday.

So who will be the opposition on Saturday? They will know late on Thursday evening. Last weekend the teams fought out a 3-3 draw, a result that gave the Wildcats the Premiership title. And once again the lethal touch of Jamie Golden was the catalyst with a couple of penalty corner strikes.

The track record of the two sides is very similar so there is no real favourite for this quarter-final tie, although the Wildcats are at home and four points ahead in the league. And both sides are not used to reversals, they have only lost one game apiece this season and Watsonians good form shows no real signs of abating.

In the other tie Hillhead take on Dunfermline Carnegie who are already relegated from the Premiership. The Glasgow side won the only meeting this season by 3-1 with Ruari Thomson, Graeme Campbell and Sean Horgan on target. While Hillhead are well adrift of the top four, Yan Adams` charges have shown themselves capable of challenging the top sides – they knocked Grange out of the competition and last weekend won away at Edinburgh University.

In contrast, the Fifers have struggled this season and were without a league victory until last weekend`s 5-1 win over Grove Menzieshill – a belated turn of fortune.   Maybe that is a good omen for Carnegie.

 

Thursday evening cup tie

A nine goal thriller, plenty of brilliance, and plenty of mistakes but highly entertaining, but at the end of the day it was Western Wildcats who progressed into the semi-final of the Scottish with a 5-4 win over holders Watsonians at Auchenhowie.

The first quarter had plenty of goals, it started in two minutes with Matthew Leiper putting the visitors ahead only for Fraser Moran to level at a penalty corner soon after. Then Adam Mackenzie put Wildcats 2-1 up only for Euan Burges bring the scores level again.

Wildcats then got stuck into proceedings with goals from Rob Harwood and Fraser Moran with a reverse stick strike to give the home side a 4-2 lead at the interval.

But the holders were not about to give up the cup lightly and equalised with goals from Euan Burges and Matthew Leiper again in a five minute spell… and it was game on. However, the winner was to come from an open play strike from Adam Mackenzie with eight minutes left, and it is Wildcats who face Edinburgh University in the semi-finals on Saturday.

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