Gilmour Sports Players of the Year Announced
19 Jun 2008
The Gilmour Sports annual Players of the Year awards are all about scoring goals, so the accolades this year go to Milne Craig Western striker Holly Cram and Azzurri Kelburne teenager Kenny Bain.
Winning silverware is rising to the occasion when it matters, and Cram did just that by scoring all the goals in Western`s 4-1 smothering of Giffnock in the Shepherd + Wedderburn Cup Final at Peffermill. The memories are stretched to find out when that sort of lethal finishing happened in a Scottish Cup Final - if ever.
Elaine Macara, manager of Milne Craig, endorsed the choice: "I think Holly has played exceptionally well for us this year and has scored some crucial goals both a home and in Europe.
"To me she has proved she can do the business at European standard and hopefully has the calibre to go on and play for Great Britain in the future."
Macara highlighted her strengths: "Holly is exceptionally sharp when on the ball and is capable of scoring all types of goals from all angles, but she also works very hard off the ball."
In Scotland colours, Cram has passed the 50 cap mark and scored in each of the recent test matches against Russia at Peffermill.
Teenager Kenny Bain is a breath of fresh air to Scottish hockey, his game has matured this season and he is a fixture in the Scotland squad. He is a precocious player on the ball, willing to take on defences with penetrating runs at pace and, like Holly Cram, prepared to shoot at goal at every opportunity.
In short, he is a rare breed - a natural striker - and there are not too many around in Scotland at the moment. Again the Cup Final was Bain`s stage. The youngster equalised an early Grange opener with a typical opportunist strike following a cross from Jonny Christie, and in the closing stages lashed home the aftermath of a penalty corner.
Bain has also been a regular contributor to the Kelburne`s considerable score sheet in the Subway national league, including hat-tricks against Aberdeen Asset Management and Inverleith. In addition, in the belated crucial double header against Grange, Bain again came up trumps with three goals in back to back victories for the Paisley outfit, and the league title.
Kelburne have won the league and cup double for an unprecedented third time this season, and the swashbuckling Bain has been an essential ingredient.
But Bain is just a genuinely nice lad, no airs and graces, no agendas, simply a youngster who has a lot of talent and a frantic desire to progress up the hockey ladder.
The Gilmour Sports Player of the Year awards, along with several other awards such as Team of the Year, will be handed out at Scottish Hockey’s Annual Awards Dinner being held at the Hilton Hotel in Dundee this Saturday.