Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
ROUND-UP Hockey badly disrupted by poor weather
THE adverse weather hit hockey badly at the weekend as artificial grass pitches are not all-weather surfaces.
Of the 58 National League games scheduled over Friday to Sunday, there were 31 games postponed or abandoned.
It all started when, due to some shocking scheduling by HQ staff, four ladies Division One games were to be played on Friday evening with one at 8pm.
That was played at Peffermill in Edinburgh. An understrength Dundee Wanderers Ladies lost 6-0 to Edinburgh University. Two of the games did not start and one was abandoned at half-time.
On Saturday, only about 15 of the scheduled 32 games were played.
In the Watsonians v GroveMenzieshill men’s Division One game, ’Hill were 4-0 up when the umpires decided to abandon the game five minutes into the second half, despite protests by both teams. Grove Menzieshill goals were by Thomlinson, Golden, Gault and Ross. A win would’ve moved the Dundee team to third.
Also in Division One, Kelburne had a 5-1 win over Edinburgh University and move two points clear of previous leaders Grange, whose game against Western Wildcats was off as was Clydesdale v Hillhead. Uddingston had a 6-2 win over Gordonians II with Mohammed Raeez netting three.
On Sunday, the Menzieshill game against second-bottom Clydesdale was also off.
In Division Two, Dundee Wanderers v Dundee University on Saturday and Wanderers against Harris FP on Sunday were off.
Stepps had a 7-0 win over Greenock and, on Sunday, Inverleith drew 1-1 against Dunfermline.
The Division Three meeting of Perthshire and Monarchs was another casualty. However, in Regional Two, Menzieshill II had a 4-2 win over hosts Edinburgh University III and move five points clear of the students at the top. Dave Petrie netted three of the goals from penalty corners.
The ladies divisions were hit worst with half the Saturday and Sunday games postponed with none of the Midland team games surviving.
In Midland men’s Division One on Saturday, Wanderers IV had goals by Greg Pearson (2) and Ben Gibson in a 3-3 draw against Harris II.
Perthshire II had a 5-3 win over Dundee University II at Riverside with the Perth goals from Ruaridh Fleming (3), Callum Berry and Alex Park. The other three games were off as were four in Division Two on Sunday. Wanderers II and Kinross share top place.
In session t wo of the Midland men’s Indoor Division Two on Thursday at Douglas Sports Centre, Wanderers III took advantage of Monarchs II’s decision to play with only outfield players. Goals by Greg Pearson (2), Jamie White (2) and Cammy Bell gave Wanderers III a 5-2 win.
An evenly matched and endto-end game saw Harris II and Wanderers IV draw 4-4 with Wanderers’ Euan Brown scoring twice in the list of seven scorers.
Monarchs lost 3-2 to Menzieshill III then, with goals by Nathan and Ian Souter and Shaan Afzal, the ’Hill were 3-0 up at half-time against Monarchs who hit back with Lewis White and Andrew McArtney finding the net. However, it was too little too late.
Perthshire had no game but remain top of the table by one point over Menzieshill III.
On Thursday, Division One returns to action with Wanderers I v Inverleith I, Menzieshill II v Wanderers II and Inverleith v Monarchs I.
Inverleith are defending title holders and play as a guest team in the Midlands Indoor.