Stoneywood-Dyce scent a capital double

Stoneywood-Dyce will bid to get their Eastern Premier Division campaign back on track tomorrow with a second victory over Watsonians inside a week.

The Peoples Park men defeated the Edinburgh side by 38 runs in the Scottish Cup on Sunday.

Both teams have struggled during the opening stages of the 2015 season with a matching record of one win and six defeats from seven league matches.

Stoneywood-Dyce captain Shaun Coetzer says it is imperative his side makes home advantage count tomorrow. But Coetzer knows the Myreside team has players capable of causing problems on their day.

He said: “They heavily rely on Ewan Chalmers to score their runs.

“They will have a couple of changes from the team we played on Sunday.

“Dewald Nel has had county experience with Kent and Worcestershire, while Paddy Sadler is another tall bowler who can be tricky to play against.

“But I don’t think there is anything to be fearful about. We will go in with the same team from Saturday.

“We have been targeting this Watsonians game all season as one we can win.

“If we play as well as we did on Sunday then we should come out on top.”

Coetzer, whose side suffered a four-wicket home defeat by Falkland last Saturday, says it must improve its scoring if it is to record a first league win since the opening day of the season against RH Corstorphine.

He said: “Last weekend was disappointing. We probably fell 20 runs short in the batting.

“Our fielding was generally pretty good, although we did have a couple of costly overs.

“We weren’t far away but Safyaan Sharif, their Scotland international, made the difference with the bat.

“He showed our guys that you go through patches in every innings where you seem to struggle but if you manage to get through it then everything will come good in the end. He scored 89 runs and batted really well.”

Coetzer’s side will be boosted by the inclusion of former Scotland international Jan Stander for the second successive week.

The Stoneywood-Dyce captain added: “Jan was back in and bowled 13 overs against Falkland.

“He was a bit rusty as it was his first game for almost a year but he will be in again this weekend.

“Jan gives us some good experience and he brings a drive that helps spur everyone on, so it is good to have him back in the team.”