Scottish Hockey’s indoor season came to a climax at the annual Gala Grand Finals at Bells Sports Centre on 9th February where all four games had supporters on the edges of their seats. Both promotion/relegation play-offs went to a shoot-out, then in each of the grand finals the winning goal was scored in the last minute.
Indoor hockey fills the winter break from December to February in the outdoor season and it’s well known that some clubs take it more seriously than others. The Women’s Grand Final featured Dundee Wanderers and Clydesdale Western. This was the sixth time in seven years that these teams had met in the final and they provided the bulk of the Scotland squad who played in the Eurohockey Championship II this year.
The game was just seconds old when Margery Justice opened the scoring for Clydesdale Western and they doubled the lead by the end of quarter one with a Holly Steiger goal. Wanderers mounted a comeback in the second quarter led by a cracking goal from who else but Vikki Bunce. Amy Snell added a second to level the scores at half time. The action was relentless throughout the second half but neither side could force a goal. Then in the last minute an opportunity fell to Millie Steiger who scored at the back post and that was enough to make Clydesdale Western champions for this year.
After last year’s ‘surprise’ when Western Wildcats came out winners the Men’s Grand Final featured the two sides which are the regular contenders, Edinburgh’s Inverleith and Dundee’s Grove Menzieshill.
The first half finished level. Cameron Golden scored the opener for Grove Menzieshill from a penalty corner and the veteran star Stephen Dick had hit an equaliser. Patrick Christie gave Inverleith the lead in the third quarter but then Cameron Golden equalised with his second before his brother Jamie restored the Menzieshill lead with a diving shot from a narrow angle. Into the last two minutes there was an equaliser from Jack Jamieson and then Derek Salmond slammed home Inverleith’s fourth. There were too few seconds left for the Dundee team to mount a comeback, Inverleith were champions.
The Gala finals also featured play-off games with the final place in next season’s Men’s and women’s Division 1 up for grabs. In the women’s game Hillhead held a 3-1 lead over CALA Edinburgh with under two minutes left only to concede two goals in a few seconds so the game finished level. The goalkeepers were well on top in the shoot-out and Hillhead clinched the win with the only goal.
The men’s play-off was an end to end game with both Watsonians and Clydesdale having the lead at various points. It ended with the score at 4-4 and it was Watsonians who came through, taking the shoot-out by 2-1.