Play-off Grand Final: (men) Grange 1, Grove Menzieshill 3; (women) Edinburgh University 1, Clydesdale Western 1 (Edinburgh win 3-1 on penalties); Relegation play-off: (men) Uddingston 6, Dundee Wanderers 1; (women) Grange Edinburgh Ladies 2, Inverleith 1;
Oliver James claimed a glory double for surprise packets Grove Menzieshill to deny Grange a first domestic treble.
The Edinburgh side, who won the Division One title and the Scottish Cup, were under real pressure to clinch a historic treble.
And the Edinburgh side weathered an early story from the Dundee outfit to lead 1-0 after 19 minutes after Irish striker Frank Ryan rifled the ball home following a penalty corner against the run of play.
But the Tayside team fired three unanswered goals, two in the second-half.
They were sparked by a spectacular strike from rising star Cammy Golden who fired an unstoppable angled shot as he ran at full speed across the D to level with five minutes left of the first-half.
Then James took centre stage, deflecting the ball home from two similar penalty corner routines, his first coming after 48 minutes and the second four minutes from time.
Grove finished third in the ten-strong league, five points behind Grange, but they now go into Europe’s top competition next season having beaten Scotland’s two top teams in 24-hours.
They saw off league champions in Glasgow in the Grand Final on Sunday and disposed of Kelburne, who finished second in the table, 5-3 in their semi-final at the West of Scotland side’s home pitch on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Sam Judge takes her Edinburgh University side into Europe next weekend on the back of claiming a domestic treble in dramatic fashion.
The students, who had already won the Division One title and the Scottish Cup, edged arch rivals Clydesdale Western after a nerve-jangling penalty shootout at Glasgow’s National Hockey Centre.
The Capital combine had earlier take the lead when player/coach Sam Judge slotted from a penalty corner after 24 minutes and the students had chances to take real control but failed to convert.
Lexi Sabatelli levelled following a brilliant solo run with 11 minutes left and the deadlock could not be broken.
Then Edinburgh won the penalty shootout 3-1 to take the play-off title and deny coach Derek Forsyth an extra present on his 60th birthday.
Beth Dodds claimed a glory double to keep Grange Edinburgh Ladies in the top flight of Scottish women’s domestic hockey.
She slotted from wide out on the edge of the D from similar penalty corner routine to end Inverleith’s promotion dream.
The goals came after 42 and 62 minutes and the Purple Robes earned the chance of a slot in Division One thanks to a brilliant late-season run which saw them finish the season two points behind winners Glasgow University who had a superior goal difference.
But they lost 1-0 to GHK in the play-off semi-final on Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday in the crunch clash with their Capital rivals and stay in Division Two.
Inverleith slotted their consolation strike from Stephanie Main with 2min 15sec left in the second-half and then saw a short saved in the final seconds as they pushed for the equaliser.
In the men’s relegation play-off, Dundee Wanderers, who finished seventh in the ten-strong table on 17 points, the same as Edinburgh University who were sixth, were demoted.
They lost 6-1 to Uddingston who finished ninth in the league, two points behind, but Brad Hughes ran riot, scoring four goals in a comfortable success.
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.
