Fraser Heigh claimed two goals as Grange recorded a comfortable 5-1 win over Uddingston in their third Premiership fixture of the season, but the rising star felt it should have been more comfortable.
And Heigh, last season’s top marksman, said: “We have been working in training at dominating games and the scoreline does not reflect that.”
He believes that Grange have nucleus of experienced and new players which augers well for the future and Heigh (pictured by Nigel Duncan against Uddingston at Fettes College) feels the famous and highly-respected Capital club are in a really good position to challenge champions Western Wildcats for the title this season.
Both have unblemished three-game records so far with Western having scored 18 goals and lost one. Grange have scored 16 goals and lost two.
Last weekend Western beat Hillhead 4-0 at home, visited Erskine Stewart’s Melville and won 7-0 and thrashed Uddingston at home 7-1 on day one.
Grange beat Uddingston 5-1 last Sunday and 24-hours earlier brushed Inverleith aside 6-1 at The Mary Erskine School. They also won 5-0 away to city rivals Watsonians in their opening fixture.
Heigh added: “They (Western) were dominant last year, but we have improved as a squad. David Nairn was recently away with seniors, we have Duncan Riddell and goalkeeper David Forrester who are in the Scotland squad, plus experienced players like former Scotland player Gordon Amour, Alan Johnston and Dylan Bean. We also have a number of good young players.”
The apprentice civil engineer believes that Grange must keep scoring goals to keep pace with Western and the sides clash head-on at Fettes on Saturday, October 8 when the Premiership resumes after the international training weekend break.
Scottish Hockey have scheduled their top referee Martin Madden for the feature game at Fettes College alongside Alexander Fedenczuk who is steadily climbing the ladder on the international scene.
Heigh said: “I feel the outcome of the title will come down to the head-to-head games with Western. We are aware of how well they are doing, but the head-to-heads will be massive.”
The former 100m runner, who was urged to take up hockey by former Scottish international captain, Mike Leonard, when he was at George Watson’s College, has made his mark north of the Border.
His performances, however, have been noted by Great Britain coaches and he has been working with the national under-21 staff.
He said: “It is nice to work with different, well-respected coaches and Great Britain are off to Malaysia in October so I’m keeping my fingers cross for selection for that. It would be a really good experience.
“The speed is so different at Great Britain level, so is the tempo and intensity and, from a fitness perspective, it is massive.
“You come back up here and it allows my to play a step higher which is good for me. That is a legacy of Great Britain, but it is also nice to play with somebody like Duncan Riddell who has been around the international scene for some time.”
The long-standing Edinburgh club, who were runners-up in the title race last season, have ambitions to win the title, have a long Scottish Cup run and to impress abroad this season.
However, Heigh added: “We are taking this game by game, but we want games where we are being challenged regularly.
“We also seek a high tempo in games which is what we try and bring to all of our fixtures.”
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