Cala and Inverleith retain Div. 1 places for next season.
Forthbank arena in Stirling hosted the last league weekend on the indoor season as the teams played for the final league positions as well as for places in the Finals to be held in Perth next weekend. Cala nad Inverleith were both mid table and they would play each other in a ‘dead rubber’ to determine the fifth and sixth places in the table. Other teams, however, had much more to play for….
Cala were on in the first match, playing against Dundee Wanderers. Dundee were top of the Division 1 ‘A’ table and were predicted to take the match and, while Cala put up a decent fight, 4-0 at half time and 7-0 at the end put Dundee in line for a semi-final place.
Next match up was Western Wildcats (2nd) against Bon Accord (4th) which again looked like a one sided match on paper, Bon Accord having no points from their season’s matches. However, the Aberdeenshire side put up a stiff resistance and were only 2-1 down at the break. They soon went 3-1 down after the restart, but pulled back in the latter stages to finish the match 4-4.
Less said about the Kelburne v Western match the better as Western put 12 goals past their Glasgow rivals for the loss of one in the final minute, and then restoring the gap with a 13th just before time.
Inverleith played next against Grove Menzieshill, the Edinburgh side lying in third place in the ‘B’ table. This was another fairly one sided affair with Grove dominating all areas of the game, but only scoring three goals in the first half. Howevre, they added another five in the second to round out the match 8-0 and set up a semi-final derby match against Dundee Wanderers.
The first play-off match was for the relegation spot and was between Kelburne and Bon Accord. Although neither team had won a match – indeed, neither had a point – this was the match of the day up to now. Both teams went at it hammer-and-tongs and had several chances to score, either from open play or corners, but Bon Accord scored the only goal to resign the Glasgow side to Division 2 hockey next season.
Cala and Inverleith then came out for the fifth/sixth place decider. Considering that both teams had been fairly matched through the season, Cala stormed away to a 6-0 lead at half time, slotting another two in the second half for a final 8-0 score and fifth place – and bragging rights over their Edinburgh rivals – in the Div. 1 table.
The first semi-final was an all-Glasgow affair, Clydesdale puting Western away to the tune of 9-1.
The second was that Dundee derby and with a 2-2 full time score, the match went to penalties, Grove coming out on top to secure a place in the Final where they will play Clydesdale.
Images from the matches will appear here in the fullness of time – Six Nations weekend looms….
