The new season gets fully underway this Saturday with the opening fixtures in the national leagues.
The Men’s 1s kick their season off at Glasgow Green against Hillhead (1330). Harry is pleased with the work done in pre-season and confident that his squad are in good shape ahead of this one.
“They’ve worked really hard over the past couple of months and I’m pleased with what I’ve seen,” he said. “While we have a few older heads they really are in the minority now and this is the youngest Western side I’ve coached in years. With that comes a lot of enthusiasm and a willingness to put in the hours in training.”
“Hillhead dipped a little last season after they finished top four in 2013/14. I’m sure they’ll be eager to improve on that and everyone goes into the first game with optimism so this is not an easy fixture. However, we are confident that we have enough to beat them and we are aiming for three points.”
Ross Clunie misses out as he serves a two-game ban for his red card in the play-off semi-final back in May.
Euan Miller’s second team are one a lot of people will be watching this season. If the first team are young then this lot are positively embryonic with virtually an entire squad of teenagers and nobody over the age of 21. They go to Grange to play the Edinburgh club’s 2s which will likely be the hardest game of Western’s season. If they can compete in this one then they should have nothing to fear henceforth.
The 3s host Kelburne 4s (1230) and should benefit from the clearout necessitated by our youngsters’ rapid rise into the 2s. That said, they did their level best to blow their opening match and, but for a rescue mission mounted by the redoubtable Dave Whiting and insufferable Kris Kane, would have lost at Helensburgh. Despite such a ropy opener we are tipping the 3s to do very well this season and this game’s a home win on our coupon.
The 4s are still waiting to get their season going but the 5s are at home to Ayr (1400). They drew 0-0 with Uddingston last week (are scoreless draws even allowed in hockey these days?) and will hope that they can get their first win on Saturday.
The Women’s 1st Team have a challenging opener up in Dundee against Grove. In truth, anything they take from this is a big bonus. Kaz has some new players to freshen up what is already a more than capable squad even taking account of the loss of Ellie Hutchison and Kirsty Howe. However, the focus is likely to be more on a solid team performance than anything else.
“We are looking at the game as basically a bit of a free hit,” said Kaz. “There is no pressure on us because this is not a game we have targeted for points so anything we do get is extra and if we lose it doesn’t affect how we are looking at the season.”
“I’m delighted to have Rona back fully fit. It’s been frustrating for both her and us to be out for so long but she’s ready to go now and I am excited to have such a good player in the team. It strengthens us a lot and gives us more options which is always good.
Both the 2s and 3s lost narrowly last week and will look to make up for that on Saturday against Loch Lomond at Helensburgh (1400) and at home to Uddingston (1530) respectively.