Perhaps Uddingston have come of age in the Men’s Premiership – they inflicted Watsonians’ first defeat of the season and laid down their marker for others to listen to. And at the same time the race for the Premiership title opened – Watsonian’s lead has been reduced to just two points.
And at the same time, Uddy have continued their impressive unbeaten run and consolidated their top six status – now just four points off the top.
On target for Uddy were Glenn Turner, Finn Halliday and Angus Sinclair, while Charlie Jack replied for the Edinburgh side.
The chasing peloton took full advantage of the Watsonians’ misery. Western Wildcats now sit just two points off the top – and with a game in hand – after a six-goal mauling of Inverleith. It was a matter of a good start and a good finish, and not much in between. In the first quarter, Andrew McAllister, Iain McFadden and Rob Harwood put Wildcats three ahead. There was then a lull in the scoring, until McFadden, the Dutchman Just Noordzij and Fraser Moran again doubled the total from the spot in the final quarter.
Third-placed Edinburgh University were also in good form with a 5-1 win over Dundee Wanderers. Keir Robb opened for the students, but that was followed by Callum Ross’ equalizer from a penalty corner. Then came the goals from Edinburgh, Jamie Golden bagging a hat-trick and Arthur Owens was the other goalscorer with a brilliant high deflection. Worth mentioning was Wanderers’ young goalkeeper Douglas Brook, who replaced the regular keeper due to illness and played well under pressure.
ESM Lions have started their campaign with a 3-2 home win over Grange to resume their rise to fifth place, while Grange moves back to sixth. The Lions roared into a two-goal lead in the first quarter through Jack Collister from the spot and a penalty corner conversion from Cameron Ede, but Grange came back in the third with open play strikes from Livio Belotti and Jacob Tweedie. However, it was the Lions who ultimately got their whiskers ahead through a late goal from Theo Wood.
In the lower reaches, Grove Menzieshill and Hillhead fought out a 2-2 draw, which pushes both slightly towards the top six. Findlay Duncan from a penalty corner and Euan Cuthill with a deflection from a Connor Chapman cross were Taysider’s attackers, while Matt Carder and Fraser Ward replied for the Glasgow side.
At the bottom, Clydesdale moved a little closer to safety with a 5-1 win over St Andrews University, who are still waiting for their first point of the campaign. The Titwood scorers were Andrew Allan, Nicholas Richmond, Euan Lindsay, Joel Reid and Thomas McInroy. The students’ answer came from Jacob Anderson.
As with the men, the lead at the top of the women’s competition has been cut after leaders Edinburgh University drew 2-2 with St Andrews. The result still leaves Edinburgh top, but only by two points and they have played one or two more games than the chasing pack. St Andrews dropped to fifth place but was still on course for a top six finish.
Almost inevitably, Jojo Muhl scored both goals for Edinburgh, the first from a rebound from a penalty corner and the other from the spot, while Bella Munoz got both St Andrews goals.
Clydesdale Western remain second after a 14-0 win at home to Hillhead – their second huge total in a row. Here there were doubles for Jen Eadie, Cara Forgie, Bronwyn Shields, Fiona Semple and Emma McGregor, while Annabel Ballantyne, Heather Howie, Millie Steiger and Rhiannon Carr picked up the others.
Watsonians are level on points with Clydesdale, but with a game less played, after a 2-1 win over Wildcats who now – perhaps temporarily – drop out of the top six. After a goalless first half, Tabitha Peck put the champions ahead, but at the start of the final quarter Emma McDiarmid leveled for the Cats with a tap-in from a penalty corner. But Ailsa Small was on hand shortly afterwards to grab the winner from a rebound from a penalty corner for Watsonians and take the points.
Watsonians coach Keith Smith reflected: “It was a bit of a one-way street as we had a lot of ball possession, but Wildcats defended well in depth and that was difficult to penetrate so we didn’t have many clear chances to score.”
Grange moved up to fourth place after a 4–1 win over Glasgow University. Their scorers were Rachel Shiel with two and Heather Croll and Kirsten Turnbull. Grange are having one of their better seasons so far and look promising to secure a place in the top flight.
GHK have risen to sixth place with a recent run of wins – this time it was a 5-0 victory over Inverleith. Lucy Williamson made her first big impact of the season with a hat-trick, while Sophie Byrne got the other two.
Ultimately, Uddingston moved closer to the top with a 2-0 win over bottom-place Aberdeen University.
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