Grange men and Watsonians women carry East of Scotland hopes in the hockey Grand Finals at Glasgow’s National Hockey Centre on Sunday after winning their semi-final ties.
Watsonians men were beaten 3-0 by Grange, the newly-crowned Premiership champions, in their semi-final and they will play Western Wildcats who dismissed The University of Edinburgh 3-1 in theirs.
The reverse for the students came only a week after they travelled to Auchenhowie, the home of Wildcats, and won on the final day of the regular season and the university side also finished second in the Premiership behind Grange, edging Western into third in the process.
David Nairn opened Grange’s account in the semi, and the same player deflected home after a penalty corner to make it 2-0 late in the game. Watsonians had chances and Dan Coultas was denied early on from a drag flick and Grange goalkeeper David Forrester had to make late stops to keep the scoreline blank as the clock ticked down.
Watsonians gambled by withdrawing their goalkeeper and the move did not pay off. Murray Banks slotted into the empty net for 3-0.
Western moved into the final thanks to two goals from Fraser Moran, one via a penalty flick, and a single from Jack McKenzie while Arthur Owens scored Edinburgh’s consolation.
Watsonians women, the league champions, emerged victorious with a 3-0 win over Western Wildcats, with goals from Bex Jones, Milly Berndes-Cade and Darcy Littlefield.
They will play Clydesdale Western after the Glasgow side dismissed The University of Edinburgh 2-0 with goals from Heather O’Brien and Emma McGregor who netted early in the second half.
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