Promotion on the agenda
11 January 2012
Billy McPherson takes his Scotland squad to the EuroHockey Indoor Nations Championships in Lignano with high hopes of promotion to Europe`s elite top eight in two years time.
The Scots will face Sweden, Ukraine and hosts Italy in the pool competition and will require to come in the top two to qualify for the subsequent promotion group. McPherson`s charges will then be up against the top sides from the other pool comprising of Denmark, Poland, Slovakia and Belarus.
The Scotland coach is aware of the tough nature of the assignment in Lignano, but has been well satisfied with the progress of the squad in the build-up programme.
"This is the first time I remember having three consecutive tournaments, the Grove Menzieshill event, the Richard Docherty Cup and finally the Europeans. We learned a lot from these games and there is still a bit of works still to do on formations and tactics," said McPherson.
The Scots, under the guise of the Caledonian Cougars, won the Menzieshill event with a 5-3 victory over club champions Inverleith. Last weekend at the Richard Docherty Cup, this time under the name of Highland Jaguars, the Scotland squad topped their pool with wins over Wales and Dutch invitation side HC RGD, then saw off Inverleith 9-3 in the semi-final. Although the Scots lost the final 6-5 to crack German outfit Grossflottbecker, they took the side from Hamburg right to the wire, and this will give McPherson considerable confidence.
McPherson said:
"We have now built up a good balanced squad, there is a very good team spirit and excellent work ethic among the players."
At the back the side will rely on Allan Dick, the goalkeeper of the tournament last weekend in Edinburgh, and the combined skills of Andrew Thornton, Adam MacKenzie and Allan Law who has had a new lease of life since joining Grange at the start of this indoor season.
Up front the Scots have a natural indoor goalscorer in Grove Menzieshill`s Chris Wilson who can find the net both from open play and the penalty corner switch, and in the four games in Edinburgh last weekend Wilson notched a total of ten goals, including four against Inverleith.
But McPherson said:
"Wilson is certainly hitting the target at the moment, but so are others as the goals have also been spread around others, and we are always a threat from penalty corners."
The Scots open on Friday against Italy around mid-day, to be followed by Ukraine in the evening, and back to back wins would certainly put McPherson`s charges on the road to promotion.
.jpg)