West 1
Before kick-off, Stewartry sat top of West 1, five points clear of the competition, with a trip to 2nd place Garnock giving them the opportunity to go 10 clear.
Stewartry are scoring bucket loads of points whilst the rest of the challengers were taking points off each other. Stewartry were strong favourites amongst our Predictor Challenge entrants, with more than 82% going for the visitors, Garnock though obviously weren't intimated and came out comfortable winners at 26 - 5.
The result puts Garnock on the same points as Stewartry, whilst Cumnocks win against Annan puts them just three points off top spot. Kilmarnock are another point behind following their win away at Carrick, with Cambuslang another three behind after a tight win over Lenzie.
West Region Results (Men) - 22nd October 2022
East Kilbrides game was off as Ardrossan were unable to field a team - this leaves them 8 points off the top, but with a game in hand. This gives us six Clubs all in with a shout of automatic promotion to the new National 4 league (or the play-off spot that is also available).
We've got a few weeks off league duty now, but when the contest resumes on 12th November, the big game is undoubtedly going to be Stewartry v East Kilbride.
| West 1 | |||||||||
| Played | W | L | D | Diff | TB | LB | Ded | Points | |
| Stewartry | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 173 | 5 | 0 | 29 | |
| Garnock | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 126 | 5 | 0 | 29 | |
| Cumnock | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 136 | 6 | 0 | 26 | |
| Kilmarnock | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 4 | 1 | 25 | |
| Cambuslang | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 22 | |
| East Kilbride | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 64 | 4 | 1 | 21 | |
| Annan | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | -83 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |
| Lenzie | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | -70 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
| Carrick | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -243 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ardrossan Academicals | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -169 | 0 | 0 | -3 | -3 |
Below these top 6, Lenzie picked up a lose bonus point against Cambuslang which moves them to within two points of Annan, but perhaps more importantly, it moves them a little bit clearer of the relegation battle.
That battle for one relegation spot is beginning to look like a two horse race between Carrick and Ardrossan Accies. Both are without a win so far in the league and the only point between them is lose bonus point picked up by Carrick.
Saturdays points deduction for Accies could now prove crucial, but they could repair some of that damage in their next outing when they host Carrick - this will be a massive game.
West 2
The top of West 2 looks similar to West 1, with the top two on 29, another on 27 and a couple on 25.
It's currently Oban Lorne in top spot, but as their game at Wigtownshire was abandoned on Saturday, they now have a game in hand on second placed Dalziel.
Dalziel move up to second thanks to their victory over Strathaven who drop to third, but at 19-17 it was a close run thing, but as with the big game in West 1, our Predictor entrants were again proved wrong, with 79% opting for Stratahven.
Uddingstons big win against Irvine move them on to the same points as Wigtownshire which leaves us with five Clubs competing for one promotion spot.
The next set of league fixtures is 12th November, which sees a couple of interesting contests that will affect the promotion battle.
Uddy travel to Oban Lorne and Strathaven welcome Wigtownshire – they can’t all come away with wins, so picking up bonus points could make a massive difference come the end of the season as this looks like it's going down to the wire.
| West 2 | |||||||||
| Played | W | L | D | Diff | TB | LB | Ded | Points | |
| Oban Lorne | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 205 | 5 | 0 | 29 | |
| Dalziel | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 125 | 5 | 0 | 29 | |
| Strathaven | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 297 | 5 | 2 | 27 | |
| Wigtownshire | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 242 | 5 | 0 | 25 | |
| Uddingston | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 81 | 5 | 0 | 25 | |
| Glasgow University Medics | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | -120 | 3 | 0 | 15 | |
| Clydebank | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | -126 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |
| Strathendrick | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | -150 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| Paisley | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -253 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Irvine | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | -301 | 1 | 0 | -3 | 2 |
Uni Medics picked up a tight win against Strathendrick which puts them mid-table with a bit of a gap above the relegation battle, where we have Clydebank, Endrick, Paisley and Irvine separated by only five points.
Wins have been difficult to come by for the bottom four, but Clydebank earned their first of the season in their game against Irvine, moving them five clear of the bottom two. Just as with the top of the table, the next set of games are important in this battle, with Paisley hosting Clydebank and Irvine hosting Uni Medics, whilst Endrick have a bit more of a difficult ask in hosting joint leaders Dalziel.
West 3
Not to be outdone, West 3 is also making sure there's plenty of competition at the top of the table with six Clubs within four points, with another three points further off the pace but with a game in hand.
Bishopton moved into top spot on Saturday with a 14 - 5 win at Lochaber. This puts them onto 18 points, the same as Lomond/ Helensburgh who had a free week, and Hyndland who won away at Lanark/ Clydesdale.
Birkmyre move up to fourth place following their 18-14 win at Cumbernauld (two points behind the leaders), which again, mirroring the top of West 1 and West 2, our Predictor entrants failed to choose correctly with only 35% going with Birkmyre.
Shawlands move onto 15 points following their draw with Waysiders Drumpellier whilst Lochaber fall to sixth on 14 points. Also in the race are Cumbernauld who picked up a lose bonus point in that game with Birkmyre.
With several games having been off this season, we do need to keep an eye on the number of games Clubs have played. Bishopton have played four, whilst Lomond/ Helensburgh have played five and Hyndland six.
| West 3 | |||||||||
| Played | W | L | D | Diff | TB | LB | Ded | Points | |
| Bishopton | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 2 | 0 | 18 | |
| Lomond & Helensburgh | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 77 | 2 | 0 | 18 | |
| Hyndland | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 2 | 18 | |
| Birkmyre | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 3 | 0 | -3 | 16 |
| Shawlands | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 0 | -3 | 15 |
| Lochaber | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 83 | 4 | 1 | 14 | |
| Cumbernauld | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 70 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| Waysiders/Drumpellier | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | -40 | 3 | 1 | 10 | |
| Isle of Mull | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 3 | 0 | -3 | 8 |
| Moffat | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -181 | 1 | 1 | -3 | -1 |
| Lanark & Clydesdale | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -265 | 0 | 1 | -3 | -2 |
We're also not clear what is happening second half of the season when it comes to promotion. There's talk of a play-off between the top six Clubs for the one place available, which would be interesting as that would bring W/D and Mull into the mix, giving us 9 Clubs with an interest in promotion.
If there’s a relegation spot from west 1 to west 2, and given there won’t be any teams dropping from national league to regionals, might there be 2 promotion spots from west 2?
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