The Scottish men’s hockey cup will be coming back to Edinburgh as Grange and Watsonians will contest the final.
Grange came from 2-0 down with a treble-whammy in the final quarter to edge holders Western Wildcats 3-2 at Glasgow’s National Hockey Centre in the second semi-final while Watsonians were also 1-0 behind to Kelburne but then hit six straight goals.
Fraser Moran scored early for Western after a reverse stick strike and near the end of a first quarter, which Grange initially dominated, Hamish Galt finished low with another reverse stick strike for 2-0.
Grange, the current men’s Premiership leaders, left their comeback late. Indeed, it was not until the final quarter that they opened their account, Joe Waterston providing the lifeline.
Waterston was on the mark again soon after to level and with three minutes remaining Aidan McQuade sent a drag flick into the net.
Martin Shepherdson, Grange’s team manager, said that Grange edged the play in terms of chances created in the second and third quarters and he added: “The fourth quarter saw a fightback by Grange with two volleyed, open play goals from Joe (Waterston) after 57 and 60 minutes.
“The game looked like it was heading for a shootout but Grange earned a short corner with three minutes to go and Aidan (McQuade) scored. Grange immediately pulled their goalkeeper but we held out for an excellent victory.
“As usual between these two teams, it was a high quality and hard-fought context.”
Earlier, in the first semi-final, a rebound was converted by Kelburne player Michael Nicol and it was not until mid-way through the second quarter that Daniel Cain levelled for the Edinburgh club.
That started a goal blitz and Andrew Campbell put Watsonians ahead 2-1 before Max Johnstone fired home from a penalty corner. His goal was followed by another from Scottish international Duncan Riddell who netted from close in and Owen Hunter made it 5-1 before Tom Swarbrick deflected home to complete the scoring.
PICTURE: Joe Waterston (white shirt) in a recent men’s Premiership clash at Fettes against Western Wildcats. Picture by Nigel Duncan
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
