Scotland Retains Four Nations Championship
Swansea 2007
Results
Scotland 3, Wales 1
Scotland 4, England 0
Scotland 5. Ireland 0
Squad
Niall Sturrock, Gordon McKenzie, Western Wildcats
Alistair Ogilvie, Clydesdale
Ben Gibson, Alan Moulds, Dundee Wanderers
Chris Taylor, Arthur Robertson, Falkirk GHG
George Guy, Cala Edinburgh
Glenn Paton (Vice Captain) Livingston
George Buchan (Captain) Brooklands
Bernie Morrison, Gordonians
Alan Aitken, Dunfermline Carnegie
John Hay, Ayr
John Bennett, Dumfries
Derek Johnstone, Aberdeen Grammar
Davie Rowlands, York
Derek Bell, Grange
Alex Carmichael, Macclesfield
Tim Wilcock, Inverleith
Coaches: Billy McLean and Stuart Smith
Tournament Report
After months of preparation, Scotland Over 50s got off to the perfect start on Saturday 1 September 2007 with a 3-1 win over Wales. John Bennett opened the scoring from a penalty corner switch and this was followed soon after by a sweeping move that was finished of by Alistair Ogilvie to give Scotland a 2-0 half time lead. 10 minutes into the second half the Welsh threatened a comeback as, against the run of play, they scored from a penalty corner. Their hopes were quickly extinguished however as Captain George Buchan picked up the ball inside his own half before outstripping the Welsh defence for a superb open play goal.
The second game of the day saw the Auld Enemies face up to each other and as England already had a win over Ireland under their belts there was all to play for. The plan was to frustrate the English in the first half and let the superior fitness of the Scots tell in the second half. The script was torn up 15 minutes in when a sustained bout of pressure saw Niall Sturrock fire home a penalty corner and with the England team still reeling from the setback Scotland regained possession straight from the restart for Alistair Ogilvie to fire home from open play. 2-0 at half time and the win was now a probability instead of a possibility. The second half was almost a procession as superior Scottish fitness saw the English repelling wave after wave of attacks before Derek Johnstone fired home from open play to make the score 3-0. The icing on the cake was added in the final minutes as Scotland were awarded a Penalty Stroke from which Derek Johnstone made no mistake for his second goal of the game. The Scotland Coaching Staff of Billy McLean and Stuart Smith were understandably delighted with the first days effort but were quick to remind the team that the job was not finished with Ireland still to come.
After a relatively quiet Saturday night the Scots turned up on Sunday looking remarkably fresh and ready to face an Ireland team that they had never beaten at this level. The Scots started as if they meant business and with only 15 minutes gone a well worked switch from a Penalty Corner saw John Bennett fire home his second of the tournament Alistair Ogilvie added 2 more before half time to take his tally to 4 and the teams turned round with Scotland 3-0 ahead. If the Irish thought the first half was hard they had an even bigger shock in the second half as the fitness of the Scots saw them totally dominate the second half. Eventually the pressure told with Bernie Morrison picking up the ball on the right edge of the circle before coolly firing the ball back across the goal into the bottom left corner. Morrison then picked up his second of the game after a great team move which saw the Irish chasing shadows leaving the final score 5-0 and Scotland 4 Nations Champions for the second consecutive year.
The Scotland Captain George Buchan was quick to praise the efforts of the team and stressed just how much of a squad effort the whole program was. Coaches Billy Mclean and Stuart Smith ably assisted by Niall Sturrock were justifiably proud of the teams unbeaten record but were also quick to praise the organisational skill of Glenn Paton and John Bennett without whom the whole program would not have been possible.
Next year the action moves to Peffermill where the Scotland team will be out to win an unprecedented 3 in a row.
George Guy