Disappointing endtorun of seventitles

GROVE MENZIESHILL’S seven-year stranglehold of the national league silverware came to a disappointing end when the skewed format of play-offs saw Milne Craig C ly d e s d a l e We s t e r n crowned champions on the basis of a one-off victory at Glasgow Green, writes our women’s hockey correspondent.

The Dundee outfit had already proved they were Scotland’s top club when they finished five points clear of the field after the norm of “home and away” fixtures before progressing to Sunday’s grand final courtesy of a “semi-final” win over city neighbours Wanderers.

Somewhat ironically, Wanderers then held MCCW to a 2-2 draw before the Glasgow outfit scraped through to the final showdown on sudden death penalties the previous week.

Grove seemed destined to consolidate their superiority when they made a flying start to go 2-0 up after 15 minutes. Scotland skipper Linda Clement opened their account with an angled shot from close range before doubling the advantage with a strike from distance.

H o l ly Cram g ave Western a foothold 10 minutes later and it was all square at the break as Anna Mae Morton had rounded keeper Cath Rae on the stroke of half-time.

Ailsa Wyllie restored the Taysiders’ slim cushion with a smart deflection on Ali Bell’s pass in the 44th minute but the advantage was cancelled out immediately when Cat Ralph grabbed the chance to equalise from a set piece and set up an end-to-end thriller.

The final sting in the tail came eight minutes from time when Morton fired in her second of the match to snatch the title for Western.

Third place went to Edinburgh University who had been unable to repeat their previous week’s success over Western while Dundee Wanderers were already secure in fourth.