WHC 3s vs Dundee Wanderers 3s

On a fine autumn afternoon Watsonians 3s turned out at Tipperlinn to face Dundee Wanderers 3s in the Cup. At least those that weren't off watching some rugby match turned up.

Wanderers were a bit of an unknown quantity, but Sonians were given the old "just go out and enjoy yourselves" pre-match talk from Sandy Hendry and began the match in good spirit.

The match began with Wanderers trying to catch out Sonians defence with a long aerial, but Richard Gray coped with the threat comfortably and the pattern was set for the first half. Watsonians pressing prevented Wanderers getting the ball up to their forwards quickly and Doug Swanson was untroubled in goal.

At the other end, the Wanderers keeper had much more to do, but unfortunately proved a match for the Sonians forwards efforts. The closest either team game to scoring in the first half was a well worked penalty corner which was deflected goalward by Rob Stewart (I think) and produced an equally high quality stop from the keeper.

With the encouraging words of captain Rob Stewart's half time assessment that they had been "reasonable" ringing in their ears, Watsonians went into the second half looking for a goal.

Unfortunately, despite some fine hockey and contributions from Fraser Heigh and Richard Waugh, they were still looking as the Wanderers midfield began to see more possession. However, the energy of Ian Duncan and Hamish Johnson covering back and the tackling of MOM Dom Wright ensured that chances were still few and far between. Even when Conkie managed to pick out the Wanderers centre forward with a misplaced 16 hit, the covering defence snuffed out the chance.

But Wanderers were becoming more threatening and Swanson was finally called into action, firstly making a good save at his right hand post after Wanderers managed to get the ball up to their forward in the circle for the first time in the match. Shortly afterwards Swanson touched a shot from a penalty corner on to the post and as the ball spun along, but not over, the line Conkie managed not to knock it into the goal, but to play it away to safety.

The game looked likely to end in stalemate, but a final twist in the tale awaited the absorbed spectators. Conkie challenged a Wanderers forward for a 50/50 ball in the circle, but his challenge was too much for the delicate Dundonian. 20 years younger, a foot taller and 2 stone heavier than the Watsonians back, it was a shame the way the Dundee lad was bullied to the ground. All watching were relieved to see that he was fit to take part in the penalty corner he so nobly deserved.

The corner was slipped to the right and the shot caught Conkie, covering the left post, on the ankle. Although he didn't flinch, the umpires didn't fail to spot that the Dundee players were appealing desperately and a stroke was, rightly, awarded and was duly dispatched.

With no more than a minute remaining Watsonians could not recover from this blow, but can take heart from a strong performance.

Here's to a run in the plate.

Paul Conkie