Scotland promotion push boosted by Artemis investment

Scotland Senior Men’s preparations for the forthcoming EuroHockey Nations Championship II have been boosted by a cash injection from UK fund manager Artemis Investment Management.

Alan Forsyth Chris Grassick

(Scotland striker Alan Forsyth, left, and captain Chris Grassick launch Artemis’ sponsorship of the national side. Photo Credit: Jeff Holmes)

As the new shirt sponsor for the national side, the Edinburgh-based company has invested a five figure sum into supporting the Blue Sticks’ performance programme and promotion push in Prague next month and as Scotland captain Chris Grassick points out, it is a welcome enhancement;

“The Artemis sponsorship has provided the team with a real boost heading into the Europeans as it has allowed us to train together as a group more often and enabled us to concentrate on performance rather than worrying about the financial side of things. We are very grateful for their support”, said the Surbiton midfielder.

“It has been a shorter programme in the build up to Prague compared to what we have been used to in the past but the squad has made big strides forward each time we have been training and playing matches together. We hit form in the recent games against the Czech Republic scoring 24 goals in three matches and we will be looking to continue that heading into the Europeans.”

Scotland captain Chris Grassick

(Chris Grassick believes Scotland’s promotion target in their sights. Photo Credit: Jeff Holmes)

The Scots travel to Katowice for two matches against Poland next week before the real competition gets underway in the Czech Republic on 19 July, again against the Poles, in Pool A of the Europeans. The group also features Croatia and Ukraine, so the first hurdle to overcome is ensuring results against these nations put Scotland in contention for the semi-finals, before focussing on the potential for promotion.

But as Grassick was keen to emphasise, the top target is reaching the European Championship in 2017, and believes his side has the strength and quality to achieve its goal,

“Promotion is the aim and we definitely have the quality to do it. It will not be easy as the strength and depth of European hockey is improving every year but I really believe we have an exciting team that will not be scared of playing and will be giving it our all to gain promotion.

“We know a decent amount about the other teams in our group and the competition which is really important but the key for us will be how well we can impose our style and play onto the opposition. We have some really talented players in our team who can be very hard to play against, so it is down to us to deliver some top performances when it matters.

Alan Forsyth Chris Grassick 2

(Photo Credit: Jeff Holmes)

Derek Forsyth’s side have hit form of late, rattling in 35 goals in six games against Wales and the Czech Republic recently.

It would appear that this squad of players are gelling together when it counts and perhaps that is down to the familiarity among the group,

“Many of our squad have grown up playing hockey together for the last 10 years, so know each other well”, said Grassick. “We all enjoy playing and winning together. Spirits are high and we are really excited about getting started.”

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