Of the three challengers for the West 3 title, only Wigtownshire played at the weekend, winning with a comfortable 57 nil result over Moffat. Bishopton had the weekend off, whilst the Glasgow Uni Medics home game against Lanark was postponed (anyone know the reason why?).
This result means we have the three teams at the top separated by only 3 points - Medics on top, with Wigtownshire & Bishopton on the same points. Wigtownshire have a game in hand on their rivals.
What makes things more interesting is they've got each other still to play, so loads of action to come.
The Medics have to travel to both Bishopton and Shire, and additionally have to make the journeys to Mull and Cowal. Their away games at both Cowal and Stranraer fall during the Uni Easter Holidays, so this could work against them.
Bishopton will face both Wigtownshire and The Medics at home, which is a huge positive for them, but they do have journeys to Cowal, Lochaber and Mull still to make.Wigtownshires eight remaining games include the trip to Bishopton, whilst they host The Medics. They also have the journey to Mull to contend with. We reckon it's probably a five hour bus journey to Oban, so by the time you take in the ferry timetable, this will end up being a weekender.
Wins and bonus points are essential, but if it's all square at the end of the day, it'll come down to points difference - Wigtownshire currently lead this on 383, Bishopton have 292 and The Medics 264, so in addition to their game in hand, Shire also have the advantage of the points difference. It's probably not going to be pretty for some of the Clubs further down the leagues as we'd expect to see some big wins between now and the end of the season for the top 3.
The Medics probably have the toughest of the run-ins, and the couple of games during the Easter break could be really dangerous for them, so we reckon they'll just miss out on the title. Bishoptons title challenge may well be determined in their next couple of games, with Shire on 3rd March followed by The Medics on 10th March. Two wins for Bishopton and they move top, but Shire will still have their game in hand, then bonus points and point difference could become the crucial and deciding factor at the end of the campaign. However, if Shire win on 3rd March, then they move into pole position for the title.
It's got the potential to be another roller-coaster, but as we've made a prediction for the other West leagues, suppose we need to do the same for West 3.
The run-in for the Medics isn't inviting, both their main competitors away and a few big journeys to make, and additionally a couple of crucial games over the Easter holiday, so for us it's down to Bishopton and Wigtownshire.
Bishopton have home advantage against their rivals, but even two wins here just cancels out Shires game in hand. A win for Wigtownshire and they'll be favourites to claim the title. So it probably all comes down two games - Bishopton v Wigtownshire on 3rd March, and Wigtownshire v Glasgow Uni Medics on 14th April. We're going with Shire for the league, taking full advantage of their game in hand and points difference, with Bishopton taking the 2nd promotion spot.
At the foot, Hyndland and Moffat are clear of the bottom two, but they have played several games more so can't yet be certain they won't finish bottom of the West Region leagues, however it's getting a bit messy at the foot of the table.
Both Mull and Lanark have so far only managed to play 8 games apiece. Lanark have a game scheduled for 26th May, yet the close season starts on 21st May, and they have last weekends game against the Uni Medics still to fit in somewhere. So whilst Moffat and Hyndland are battling away trying to pick up points, if we're being realistic, one or both of Mull or Lanark are unlikely to be able to play all their games.Both Lanark and Mull have a few home & away ties still to play against a number of Clubs, so conceivably they could play these as double-headers where one game determines both results. Mull have four potential double-headers and Lanark three.
With away journeys at Mull, Cowal, Lochaber, Wigtownshire and Glasgow Uni Medics still come, we're just not confident of Lanarks ability to see out the season.
Both Moffat and Hyndland have a decent looking run-in of games, with each only having to play just once against one of the title challengers, which means the rest of their games should be fairly competitive. Hyndland are probably looking at an away game to Mull as their final game - sounds like a decent journey to end the season.
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