Edinburgh Shinty club faced a tough match this Saturday against rival Strathclyde University. The men’s side managed to seal a hard fought victory, while the women’s side failed to overturn their tough opponent.
With a last minute venue change, due to an unplayable Peffermill pitch, the teams were forced to regain concentration and move to Tayforth’s ground out in Musselburgh. The women’s team played first and dove straight into the action.
The play was fairly concentrated in the middle of the park with no side managing to gain the upper hand.
Without much in the way of chances by either side, Strathclyde finally mounted an attack which led to a relatively long range shot that managed to trickle past every player before running into the Edinburgh goal. The Edinburgh women fought back hard to try and gain an equaliser but one could not be found and the game finished 1-0 to Strathclyde.
The men were then on straight after the women. Again, the game was fairly concentrated in the centre of the park and the scoring was opened quite quickly after David Mackenzie found the Strathclyde net.
However Strathclyde were quickly back on the attack and not too long afterwards had found an equaliser. The game remained tight for the remainder of the first half and most of the second . Play remained concentrated in the middle of the pitch with attacks from either side amounting to very little.
In the last third of the second half Edinburgh dug deep and pushed forward, forming a solid attack on the Strathclyde goal and, after some very scrappy play, the net was found by Brendan Duggan who punched the ball through the defence crowding around the goalmouth. Edinburgh held on and with some fine defending managed to seal a 2-1 victory. The team effort could not be questioned and proved key to helping the side achieve its final victory.
Performances from both teams were promising and demonstrated just how far the teams have developed. The men’s side will aim to take confidence from their performance, while the women will be hoping to learn from their disappointing result.