Watsonians earn promotion in Alanya with victory over Clydesdale Western

WATSONIANS 5 CLYDESDALE WESTERN 1

It was mission accomplished for Watsonians` coach Keith Smith as he watched his side beat fellow Scots Clydesdale Western 5-1 in yesterday`s semi-final at the EuroHockey Club Challenge tournament in Turkey to win promotion to the second tier Trophy competition next season.

On their European debut the Edinburgh side were undoubtedly the most impressive outfit in the tournament, they won all their four games in some style, scoring 19 goals in the process.

Watsonians stamped their favourite tag firmly on the match in the opening exchanges and went ahead in only two minutes with an open play strike from Katie MacCallum. Not long after set piece expert Emily Dark doubled the tally when she found the net at a penalty corner, and already Watsonians were looking in total command of affairs.

There was a whiff of comeback early in the second quarter with an open play goal from Clydesdale`s Bronwyn Shields but the revival was stifled two minutes later when Katherine Holdgate restored Watsonians` two goal lead. The Edinburgh side simply added to their tally in the second half, MacCallum scored her second of the contest and towards the end Scotland striker Sarah Jamieson added a fifth.

Perhaps rather surprisingly SK Slavia Prague gained the other promotion spot by edging out host side Gaziantep, the game ended 2-2 but the Czechs won the penalty shoot-out 4-3.

Watsonians` coach Keith Smith gave his summation of the tournament. “Before we arrived I was confident the girls could be the best team here, but the key was that they believed that themselves. Once they overcame the nerves of the first quarter of game one, they recognised that and their performances over the last four days have been incredible, after a long tough season, they found another level again and are more than worthy of the promotion spot.

“That said, I thought Clydesdale Western played their best game of the tournament so far and the score didn`t represent how hard they pushed us, which is testament to the quality they have.

“It`s a shame only one Scottish team ended up being promoted, but I think that both teams have given a good account of themselves and of hockey in Scotland.”

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