Tri-Nations International Tournament Swansea 23-4 June 2007

At the invitation of the Welsh Hockey Union, Scotland put together a representative side, to participate in the first Home International Tournament for the over 45 age group. Unfortunately Ireland could not be present. However, it was decided that Saturday would see each team play each other for the Home International Trophy and play once again on the Sunday in ‘spirited’ friendly competition.

Scotland started against an extremely gifted and experienced England team but were unfortunate that injury to Alan Kerr forced him out of the tournament early. The Scots held shape very well indeed under enormous pressure and managed a well worked goal. The final score of 8:1 did not truly reflect the game as a whole (lesson learned take more than 13 players).

Wales were felt to be a beatable proposition later in the day but again we went down by the odd goal or two, this time tired legs were the principal cause. We had improved a great deal as a working unit and felt that although Saturday had been disappointing we could really perform even better on Sunday.

Sunday saw an early morning start to the ‘friendly’ tournament games. We went one up through an exceptional drive down the right and a sweeping move towards the goal by the midfield. The Welsh team came back hard and eventually equalized. Although one or two other chances to win the game appeared a draw was a positive step.

England later in the day produced an extremely strong side once again and we did lose by 3 goals each half. However, in this game, the shape of the defence and midfield and the work-rate of the entire Scotland team could not have been faulted.

Should invitations appear for further International Games at this age group a stronger depth of squad would be essential. To this end the more senior players from the squad will be pursuing ex-international contacts, etc. Anyone reading this who is interested in joining the squad should contact Mike McInally (the email address is a graphic, not a live link):

07817 612529 (mob)

Mike McInally