A hearty congratulations to our men's section who recorded five wins from five games on Saturday.
The first team got the biggest result of our quintet with a terrific 4-1 win over Clydesdale at Titwood. Western were up within seconds through Joe McConnell and added another midway throught the half via Ross Clunie's low penalty corner strike. Clydesdale pulled one back from a corner towards the end of the half, though, and probably felt themselves a little unfortunate to be behind at the break.
However, Western went through the gears in the second half and looked very comfortable as the game wore on. Clunie added another corner and Scott McCartney did what Scott McCartney does when he gets the ball in the D for the killer fourth. Dale will rue missed opportunities as their play-off hopes fade but Western were worth three points in this one and remain four clear in third place.
The 2s recorded a solid 2-0 win at home to Rottenrow with goals from Vishal Marwaha and Graeme Watson. Western also contrived to hit the post in a well deserved victory.
The 3s played some of the best hockey of their season in a 6-0 demolition of Uddingston 3s. Scott (2), Benson (2), Reid and Andrew were the scorers but it's the team ethic which is making the thirds such a success this season. Fourteen from fourteen and a trip to Irvine next week for fifteen in a row. Who'd a thunk it?
The 4s finally got playing some hockey and in doing so ran over the top of poor GHK. Western won 8-0 and the question now is more to do with how we look after the boys' development over the summer and into next season such has been the success of this fourth team project. Euan has the beatific calm of one who knows he has something special on his hands at the moment. We watch their progress with much interest.
And finally the 5s got a 5-2 win at Helensburgh 3s. Readers will be reassured that this was another victory powered by youthful endeavour. There would appear to be plenty behind the boys who currently populate the Men's 4s. This is another space worth watching.
As for the women's section, the 1s were beaten by Edinburgh University. This was not unexpected and the 3-0 scoreline gives some cause for optimism. However, the word is our girls could have done with being more assertive. The 2s got back to winning ways at Hillhead while the 3s were beaten 8-0 by top-of-the-table Stepps.
Finally, a word about this weekend’s umpires. John Roche, Jon Redford, Sam Cowan, Ally Trainor, Robbie Robertson, Grace Cowan and Ewan McKechnie all blew a whistle on Saturday and two members of the Women’s 1st team gave up a chunk of their Sunday to do the same yesterday. Well done to each and every one of them and to every else who does their bit as ‘the third team’. Without folk doing this, the rest of us can’t get a game. If you umpire regularly, well done; if you don’t, ask yourself why not.