Watsonians and Clydesdale Western both win to set up semi-final clash

Scottish clubs Watsonians and Clydesdale Western have both reached the promotion semi-finals at the women`s EuroHockey Club Challenge tournament in Turkey after winning their final pool matches yesterday. Watsonians finished top of pool A with maximum points while Clydesdale had to be content with the runners-up spot in the other pool, and so the two sides meet head-to-head in today`s second semi-final, so only one Scottish side will be promoted.

Ironically, it is a win-win scenario for Watsonians, if they beat Clydesdale in the semi-final they will be promoted directly to next year`s second tier Trophy competition. But even if Clydesdale are victorious it is Watsonians, who won this season`s European play-off tournament, who had won the right to represent Scotland in the Trophy event.

 

WATSONIANS 5 SK SLAVIA PRAGUE (CZECH REPUBLIC) 0

Watsonians, in their European debut, reached the semi-final in style with a commanding 5-0 win over Czech champions SK Slavia Prague for a hat-trick of convincing victories. This time the Scottish champions started brightly with an early penalty corner goal from Emily Dark, her fourth of the tournament, and that is how it stood at the interval.

Promotion was effectively sealed when Scotland striker Sarah Jamieson added a second from open play. Watsonians turned the screw further in the final quarter, it started when Katherine Holdgate converted from the spot for the third. Then in the closing few minutes Holdgate netted her second of the game from open play and that was quickly followed by another from Emilia Berndes-Cade to complete the rout.

After the game Watsonians` coach Keith Smith remarked: “Yes, it was an excellent performance again today, and the intent we showed from the first whistle was pleasing. Slavia have lots of dangerous players and I thought we managed those threats well, and did a very good job to limit them to just one shot on target. We were also patient in possession, and used the ball intelligently to stretch their defence and exploit the gaps that opened up.

Ultimately though it`s the final match that counts, so we know as impressive as we`ve been so far, we have to match that and more again tomorrow (Monday).”

 

CLYDESDALE WESTERN 1 SIAULIAI GINSTREKTE (LITHUANIA) 0

In the other pool Clydesdale seemed to take for ages to demonstrate their dominance and the stalemate continued to the final quarter before Anna Hoolaghan scored the only goal of the game with a deflection at their 13th penalty corner. The Clydesdale cause was not helped by the fact that they were awarded three penalty strokes and missed all three The victory propelled Clydesdale temporarily into pole position, but host side Gaziantep quickly took top spot back after taking full points from their clash with Italian side Argentia.

Clydesdale coach Wendy Justice summed up the occasion. “The most pleasing thing about today`s performance was that we totally dominated both possession and circle penetrations. The pressure that the opposition had to endure was relentless, but they defended bravely and defiantly and their goalkeeper had a fabulous game.

“We look forward to the challenge of competing against Watsonians for a first place finish tomorrow.”

Recent posts:

Back to all news
Back to top