Wildcats prowl in Europe this weekend

Western Wildcats men head for Puconci, Slovenia, for the EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge 1 tournament with high hopes. The FIH Nations Cup 2, however, is on at the same time in Oman and Scotland are one of the eight participants.    So Western will be without five of their players including the free-scoring Jamie Golden and Andy McConnell. But coach Vishal Marwaha is not down-hearted, in contrast he sees this as an opportunity.

Vishal said, “We are missing five players who are at the Nations Cup.  This gives an opportunity for others to step in, learn and develop.

“The squad we have is pretty much the one we took to the Mason Cup in early January. The team performed well and got to the final of that tournament. We want to build on those performances.”

Also the tournament has an unusual format, because there are only seven sides rather than the usual eight it is played out in a single league with each side having six games.

Western Wildcats start their campaign off on Friday against Welsh champions Cardiff & Met – always a challenging occasion – and then hosts HK Triglan Predanovci later in the day. Thereafter two games in the other couple of days of the competition. A demanding schedule for the Wildcats – but then again it is the same for the other sides from Sweden, Italy, Ireland and Denmark.

So how does Vishal rate the occasion? “We have played some of the teams previously and the games were always close. It will be tough but we are excited by the challenge and looking forward to the tournament.”

The Nations Cup has also delayed the start of the top tier competition of the Premiership but the lower group commence battle on Saturday. The main thrust here is to avoid finishing last, which brings with it automatic relegation while second bottom spot triggers a play-off against the runners-up from the second tier.

In the men`s competition Dunfermline Carnegie are adrift of the other sides with only a single point and need to start picking up points for salvation. That might not be so easy as they are at home to a Clydesdale side that are eighth and won 4-2 on the final day before the winter break. However, the Titwood-based side lost 4-0 to ESM in the Scottish Cup last weekend – so the Fifers might spy an opportunity.

Eleventh placed Inverleith travel to Dundee Wanderers who are only a point ahead of them – this could be close as the first game ended in a 2-2 draw and the winner here could take a small leap to safety.

The remaining fixture brings Uddingston to Grove Menzieshill – although at the moment both sides look well above the danger area.   Uddy triumphed 4-1 in the first outing with Fahmi Khalid scoring a hat-trick of penalty corners – the Taysiders will have to look out for that.

In the women`s league it is Fjordhus Reivers and Hillhead who are becoming detached at the bottom with one and three points respectively.  Both need to start picking up points as soon as possible – Reivers are at home to Inverleith while Hillhead travel to Uddingston.    Something will have to change if crucial points are to be gained as both lost their earlier encounters by some margin.

The other game on the card sees St Andrews University entertain Grange – last time out the game ended 3-3, so perhaps close again.

 

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