Women 1s Progress to Cup Final – Bucs Roundup
For the second week running the women’s 1st team grab the headlines with another notable result in a season to remember. Off the back of clinching their first Bucs Scottish 1A title last week, this time the girls booked their place in the Scottish Student Sport Women’s Cup final after defeating Edinburgh 1s (from Premier North League) 1-0. The only goal of the game came 20 minutes from the end courtesy of Allie Crum who finished from close range. The result sends the team through to their first cup final appearance in this competition for 8 years in which they will either face Stirling 1s or Aberdeen 1s, on the 1st April, at the National Performance Centre (Oriam) in Edinburgh.
Also progressing to a cup final is the men’s 1st team as they came out on top in the battle of the saints to defeat the 2nd team and book their place in the Conference Cup Final on 11th March where they will face familiar opposition in Strathclyde 1s. The semi-final was a good spectacle for the neutrals who watched it as goals from Tyler Gilmore and Tom Grant gave the 1s a 2-0 lead at half time. A textbook Sebastiaan Van Gilst header early in the second half put the game back in the balance until a Flynn Gray brace and Seb Ratzan goal gave the 1s a some breathing space. In the end the scoreline didnt neccesarily reflect the balance of play and 2nd team gave a good account of themselves in spells. Attention for them now turns to trying to seal promotion back to 3A at the first attempt which will be secured with a win at Aberdeen 4s on Wednesday 4th March.
Whilst both 1st teams enjoyed cup semi-final success, unfortunately it was not to be for the women’s 3s in their qwest to make the Women’s Conference Cup Final. Despite a brave and spirited effort which included putting their bodies on the line time and time again, they came up just short losing 2-1 to Dundee 1s (from the league above). Val Lye got the goal for the 3s with the score 2-0 at the time but it just was not to be in getting the game to penalites again like they had done so well with in the previous round. A great effort from the team though in reaching their furthest ever stage of the competition.
In league action on Wednesday, the men’s 3s recorded a good win coming out 6-2 winners at home (match was played at Cupar Sports Centre) against Aberdeen 4s. Goals from Nicholas Lewis, Darren Mitchell, Ali McCauley, Alex Latto and a Nick Warren brace saw the 3s gets 3 valuable points and climb them 3 places in league 4B with 2 games to play. For the men’s 5s it was a disappointing day as they lost 5-2 at Dundee 3s. A George Hancock double wasnt enough as a tale of poor defending and not taking chances was to prove crucial in the outcome of the match. The 5s do still have 2 games to go however and will be looking to finish stong as they aim to climb the table.
One note of change for the fixture calender this week is that the men’s amatuer team match that was meant to be away at Fife Thistle in the Fife Cup is now at home on Saturday 29th February with a 2pm kick off on the 3g pitch at University Park.
ASAW