Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dundee teams well placed for festive break
SPORTS
THE first stage of hoc key ’s Scot t ish Indoor League was completed on Sat urday, w ith Du ndee tea ms in second a nd th i rd place for the second stage to begin on January 25.
Only an Albert Rowling goal separated Grove Menzieshill and Dundee Wanderers at half-time in the opening match at Bell’s Sports Centre.
Rowling completed a valuable hat-trick before Jamie Golden netted to give Menzieshill a more than comfortable 4-0 lead going into the latter stages.
That was when Wanderers came alive to score twice through Sean Dowie and Bobby Ralph but that was as close as they got.
Menzieshill were again on form against Clydesdale, knocking in 12 goals, with only four in reply.
This time it was Cammy Golden who was the main destroyer, with five goals, backed up by a hat-trick from Luke Cranney.
Olly James, Jamie Golden, Rowling and Ross McPherson completed the tally.
These wins secured second place for Menzieshill, with Inverleith recording two more wins to top the division going into the festive break before the second stage.
A 4-1 win over out-ofsorts current champions Western Wildcats and a 3-0 win over Uddingston completed the initial task for Inverleith.
Wanderers had to come from behind to earn a 4-4 draw against Grange.
Elliott Sandison was Wanderers’ only scorer as Grange raced to a 4-1 lead.
However, they recovered to earn a point with two goals from Ralph and one from Dowie.
Wanderers’ second game was a 4-2 win over Dunfermline Carnegie. Dowie scored twice with Sandison and Ralph netting the other two.
Grange had already beaten Uddingston 4-1 and Western 4-2 to leave them fourth in the standings with Wanderers third.
These results mean Menzieshill and Wanderers will be in Pool B for the second stage, while Inverleith and Grange will be the form teams in Pool A.
Monarchs secured second place in Division 2 with wins over Inverleith II and Stepps. However, that still leaves them two points behind leaders Watsonians at the halfway stage.
Monarchs’ 5-2 opening win over Inverleith II was comfortable enough and the 8-4 victory over Stepps emphasised the gap between the top half and the lower reaches of the division.
Menzieshill II are in the unusual position of being fourth at this stage when they are far more accustomed to challenging for, if not winning outright, this division.
Their 6-3 win over leaders Watsonians was an incredibly-encouraging start to the day but they could only draw 4-4 with Hillhead.
Menzieshill concluded the day with a 6-4 loss to Kelburne which saw the Paisley side into third with Menzieshill II fourth at the halfway stage.
This division, as with Division 3, is played out as a standard league, each team playing the others twice.