Way clear for match of the day

Going into round four of the Strathmore and Perthshire NEC with all the matches played so far has a certain irony when you cross sports and realise that only by this Saturday will rugby’s BT Caledonia Divisions Two and three eventually come to a conclusion.

Since Dyce RFC played their last league match on Thursday, there will be no conflict as to what to watch today, which is just as well since Stoneywood Dyce’s clash with Forfarshire 2nd at People’s Park has the makings of match of the day.

SD are unbeaten and Shire have bounced back from an opening day defeat by Meigle to then stick six and five-wicket wins on Perth Doo’cot and Dundee HSFP respectively.

Jack Mitchell and Josh Newton flourished with the bat for SD last week, while Glen Carnegie and Aalap Asurlekar did serious damage to Dundee with the ball so it all looks like being a tasty clash.

Dundee HSFP would have hoped to come out of the first three games with more than their opening day win over Mannofield but they take on ASDI Gordonians at Dalnacraig with the Aberdeen outfit toiling at the bottom of the table without a win.

At Doo’cot Park, Perth and Mannofield will be looking to add to their one win so far. The home side had a decent opening day win over Strathmore but have gone down to Forfarshire 2nd and Stoneywood Dyce since.

The most worrying factor for Perth Doo’cot has to be that in those two matches they were unable to take their total into three figures.

Strathmore, who visit Meigle, have won two on the bounce with overseas amateur Michael Shum making a big impression with bat and ball.

Also boasting two wins from three, Meigle will be no pushover, particularly with Raju Gayashan in a rich vein of form with the bat.

Top of the table plays second bottom at Lochlands when Arbroath United take on Falkland who, in Ben Strachan and Harshua Cooray, have batsmen who can hoist a formidable total.