Promotion on the agenda

Billy McPherson takes his Scotland squad to the EuroHockey
Indoor Nations Championships in Lignano with high hopes of
promotion to Europe`s elite top eight in two years time.

The Scots will face Sweden, Ukraine and hosts Italy in the pool
competition and will require to come in the top two to qualify for
the subsequent promotion group.  McPherson`s charges will then
be up against the top sides from the other pool comprising of
Denmark, Poland, Slovakia and Belarus.

The Scotland coach is aware of the tough nature of the
assignment in Lignano, but has been well satisfied with the
progress of the squad in the build-up programme.

“This is the first time I remember having three consecutive
tournaments, the Grove Menzieshill event, the Richard Docherty Cup
and finally the Europeans.  We learned a lot from these games
and there is still a bit of works still to do on formations and
tactics,” said McPherson.

The Scots, under the guise of the Caledonian Cougars, won the
Menzieshill event with a 5-3 victory over club champions
Inverleith.  Last weekend at the Richard Docherty Cup, this
time under the name of Highland Jaguars, the Scotland squad topped
their pool with wins over Wales and Dutch invitation side HC RGD,
then saw off Inverleith 9-3 in the semi-final.   Although
the Scots lost the final 6-5 to crack German outfit
Grossflottbecker, they took the side from Hamburg right to the
wire, and this will give McPherson considerable confidence.

McPherson said:

“We have now built up a good balanced squad, there is a very
good team spirit and excellent work ethic among the players.”

At the back the side will rely on Allan Dick, the goalkeeper of
the tournament last weekend in Edinburgh, and the combined skills
of Andrew Thornton, Adam MacKenzie and Allan Law who has had a new
lease of life since joining Grange at the start of this indoor
season.

Up front the Scots have a natural indoor goalscorer in Grove
Menzieshill`s Chris Wilson who can find the net both from open play
and the penalty corner switch, and in the four games in Edinburgh
last weekend Wilson notched a total of ten goals, including four
against Inverleith.

But McPherson said:

“Wilson is certainly hitting the target at the moment, but so
are others as the goals have also been spread around others, and we
are always a threat from penalty corners.”

The Scots open on Friday against Italy around mid-day, to be
followed by Ukraine in the evening, and back to back wins would
certainly put McPherson`s charges on the road to promotion.

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