Hockey: It's double trouble for Grange with duo absent

GRANGE will be minus two of their key players for Saturday's back-to-back indoor hockey double against defending champions Menzieshill and Kelburne.

The unavailability of Colin McIver, who has been a big part of the ambitious Capital club's indoor programme for the last three years, and former Inverleith star Callum Milne, a Scottish internationalist outdoors, leaves them bereft of two of their main goal threats.

The pressure will be on outdoor internationalist Cammy Fraser and experienced Phil Sully to produce the firepower needed to shock Menzieshill, the Dundee-based seven-time champions.

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It's a huge ask but coach David Knipe, himself a former Menzieshill player indoors and out, is determined to put on a show.

Knipe, who has been sidelined by injury all season, saw his men beat Wanderers 4-1 in their opening game of the new campaign at Perth last Saturday.

However, the Edinburgh club came unstuck against arch city rivals Inverleith in their second outing, losing 6-3.

Then Grange bounced back to claim a 9-5 victory over Glasgow combine Hillhead, who prop up the Division One table.

Grange have six points from their three games leaving them in third place in the eight-strong table.

Menzieshill are also on six points having won their opening two jousts, a 13-1 demolition of Glasgow outfit Hillhead and a 6-3 victory over Clydesdale.

Knipe said: "Last weekend we had a good start in terms of a result (the 4-1 win over Wanderers), but I did not think the performance was anywhere near what I would have hoped.

"We played hard and battled well against Inverleith, but they are a really strong side and we beat Hillhead.

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"Going forward, we will certainly try to be better this week against Menzieshill and we must ensure we have better quality possession.

"We are under no illusion and we go into the game as massive underdogs given the start that Menzieshill have had. We ran them close last season and we will try to put on a performance.

"They have a younger team but they still have lots of experience, with players who have competed in Europe and with the international team.

"I don't think there will be a massive change in their tactics. Billy McPherson (Menzieshill's coach] will work on their individual skill levels and they also have experienced players like Kenny Stibbles, who can score."

After The Hill, Grange face Kelburne, who opened their campaign with a 6-5 defeat by Glasgow rivals Clydesdale, a 5-4 win over Hillhead and an 11-6 defeat to Inverleith who top the table by three points. Kelburne are sixth with three points.

Knipe added: "They (Kelburne] are an outdoor team and they sent a young squad up last weekend.

"However, they still have quality players like Iain Scholefield and Willie Marshall. I watched Kelburne in their final game last Saturday. They go hard and they ran Inverleith close for around 30 minutes.

"They are a threat and we'll be missing Colin (McIver] and Callum (Milne]. Both are goal-scorers and their unavailability will affect our strength in depth. Because of that, I'll have to be a little more conscious of how I use the guys."