Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
GM hoping to get back on winning track
THE National Men’s Hockey Leag ue resumes on Saturday with matches in all divisions.
Grange are in pole position in Division One, four points ahead of Western Wildcats and five ahead of Grove Menzieshill.
All three will expect to win against Uddingston, Edinburgh University and Clydesdale respectively.
Menzieshill must put behind them the disappointment of losing the indoor final to Western Wildcats but there is sufficient experience in the squad to ensure they are focused on the remainder of the outdoor season.
The top three are virtually nailed on to finish there. However, there is then the post league play-offs for European representation with the expectation that Western and Menzieshill will clash at that stage.
Dundee Wanderers have nothing to prove outdoor with a 100% record from their first 11 games and a five-point lead over Dunfermline Carnegie. However, it is imperative they maintain that form to gain outright promotion.
Three more points surely await as they travel to Aberdeen to play bottom team Granite City Wanderers.
Both St Andrews University and Perthshire are reasonably secure in mid-table.
Both should strengthen their position against Aberdeen Grammar and Glasgow University.
Monarchs lie three points behind l eaders Erskine Stewart’s-Melville (ESM) in Division Three and should maintain that away to Strathclyde University.
ESM may have a more testing outing away to Highland but should still retain their 100% record.
Harris have a home match against Aberdeen University.
Menzieshill II will have a difficult match against Grange II in the Central Division.
There are only five points between the teams but Grange are chasing second behind substantial leaders Edinburgh University II.
Inverleith finished third in the EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge 1 in Oslo.
However, they came within a minute of second place and promotion.
They required to win their last match against Three Rock Rovers to finish ahead of the Irish team.
Inverleith led by 1-0, 2-1 and then 3-2 at half-time and held on until the last minute when Rovers equalised to take second place behind Portuguese side Lousada and gain promotion.
Inverleith also beat Kringsja 6-4, with a Stephen Dick hat-trick, and drew 5-5 against Bologna.
Grove Menzieshill II women won three valuable points against Waverley to move above them into a mid-table position.
Western Wildcats won 4-0 over Aberdeen Uni to secure an away Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against Watsonians.
The National League resumes on Saturday with Dundee Wanderers at home to Watsonians.
Grove Menzieshill are also at home. They face Clydesdale Western who head the division on goals scored over Edinburgh University.
Grove II can follow up their excellent win l ast weekend against Waverley with three more points from the visit of George Heriot’s. That would keep the Grove team safely in mid-table.