Grange travelled to Auchenhowie and earned a 1-1 draw with arch rivals Western Wildcats to remain in pole position in the men’s Premiership by only one point from the Glasgow club.
Coach Stevie Grubb said his men started slowly and went behind to a short corner early in the first quarter and he added: “The boys had to dig deep and show true character to play their way back into the game.”
It was in the third quarter that their hard work and effort paid off. A turnover high up the field led to a series of passes between Jacob Tweedie and Joe Waterstone. That created space in the left of the D for Rory McCann to slot home the equaliser.
Grubb added: “We then showed composure to see out the game for the draw. We are now looking forward to preparing for next weekend and the final game of the league campaign.” That is a home game against Edinburgh rivals Watsonians.
Elsewhere, Edinburgh University, who are third, thrashed bottom club Inverleith 9-1 after being 6-1 ahead at half-time, Alex Wilson netting a treble, Robbie Croll claiming two and there were singles from Keir Robb, Tom Cahalin and Iain McFadden plus one from coach Hamish Imrie.
He said: “It was a good performance and it was nice to see things we worked on at training implemented into the game.” The students travel to Western for their final game of the league campaign on Saturday while Inverleith visit Clydesdale.
In the bottom half of the table, Erskine Stewart’s Melville (ESM) earned a victory with a 4-3 win at Dunfermline Carnegie to underline their recent form. They are now unbeaten in three matches and sit fourth in the six-strong table with 14 points, nine ahead of the Fife combine. ESM complete their league fixtures with a trip to Hillhead.
In the women’s Premiership, Edinburgh University slammed four goals past previously unbeaten Watsonians at Peffermill and the 4-2 success sees the students take over from their Capital rivals at the top with 40 points. Watsonians have 37 but they have a game in hand against Glasgow University on Tuesday (Peffermill, Edinburgh 20.10) and they already have a five goal advantage over the students.
Harriet Pratt and Louise Campbell put Edinburgh 2-0 ahead before Ellie Stott pulled one back for the champions but Sophie Hinds made it 3-1 before the interval.
Susan Hamilton netted Watsonians second from a penalty corner but Scotland international Katie Robertson scored from a penalty corner rebound to make it 4-2 and they held out for the points.
It was not such a good story for two other Edinburgh clubs who are in the bottom half of the table. Second-placed Grange Edinburgh Ladies lost 3-1 to pace-setting Hillhead in the Capital and are now five points adrift of the Glasgow club and Inverleith went down 3-2 at tird-placed Gordonians in Aberdeen. Inverleith are second bottom with six points, two above bottom club Dundee Wanderers.
PICTURE: Martin Shepherdson, Grange’s team manager, talks to referees by Nigel Duncan
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