Hockey: Coach Neave hails squad in glory run

JUBILANT coach Stuart Neave today saluted his Inverleith squad after they clinched a maiden Scottish indoor hockey title and declared: "We've waited 40 years for this."

The Edinburgh combine now wait to see what happens to dethroned champions Menzieshill when they carry Scotland's banner in the EuroHockey Indoor Club Champions Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, from February 18-20. Results there will determine whether or not Inverleith will play in the top competition.

On Saturday, ambitious Inverleith kept their cool to claim their first Scottish indoor title - and the club's first national crown for 40 years - with a win double at Perth.

The Edinburgh club side, who won the Midlands indoor crown last Thursday, dismissed two Glasgow clubs, mid-table Clydesdale and then bottom club Hillhead, to go through the season undefeated.

They become only the fifth team to take the coveted Divsion One title in the history of the competition and ended the seven-year reign at the top by Dundee-based Menzieshill.

Other title winners are Dundee Wanderers, Edinburgh Civil Service and Aberdeen club Rutherston.

And it erases the bitter memory of 12 months ago when Inverleith finished second behind Menzieshill, the title being snatched from their grasp with a goal by the Dundee side from a three-times taken penalty corner in the dying seconds of their final game.

Fife-based Neave, Inverleith's coach, said: "Last year is history. However, this result is significant as we've not won a major national trophy for nearly 40 years.

"This puts us in an elite group and it is a reward for teamwork and consistency as we've played 21 games unbeaten this year in all indoor competitions, winning 19 and drawing two.

"It also ends the seven-year reign of Menzieshill who live and breathe indoor hockey."

The talented squad made no mistake, despite suffering an early set-back in their final game.

Inverleith hammered fourth-placed Clydesdale 10-1 in their opener after a slow start. The Edinburgh side opened the scoring through Olympian Stephen Dick, who plays outdoors for English cracks Reading, via a penalty corner after two minutes. And Adam Mackenzie, one of their most consistent players during the course of the tournament, made it 2-0 five minutes later.

Dogged Clydesdale pulled one back from Ben Peterson five minutes after that but strikes from Mackenzie after 16 minutes and Olympian Graham Moodie in the final minute of the first-half settled nerves.

Inverleith then rattled in six goals in the second-half to secure the welcome win with Chris Grassick, who plays for English side Surbiton outdoors, completing the scoring in the final minute with the goal of the game, leaving three bemused players in his wake before firing the ball into the roof of the net from an acute angle.

Mackenzie, Dick and Grassick all completed doubles while Moodie, Derek Salmond, Phil Hall and Chris Duncan also netted.

In their second game, rock-bottom Hillhead, without a win and only two points all season gained from two draws - one of them yesterday, a 3-3 scoreline against Wanderers - held a shock 1-0 lead through Craig Paterson in the first minute.

But Inverleith pulled level minutes later with a penalty flick strike from Duncan and then fired six unanswered goals into the Glasgow side's net before Hillhead scored again from Andrew Hilton.

Paterson's second late on was a consolation for Hillhead and Steven Dick ended with four goals for Inverleith with Phil Hall and Moodie claiming doubles. Adam Mackenzie was their other scorer. Neave added: "We've used 14 players all season.

"Some of them - Allan and Stephen Dick and Christopher Grassick - travelled regularly from England to play.

"Andrew Sinclair, who is with Wimbledon, also travelled before he broke his leg in an early round.

"He was courtside on Saturday to share this triumph with us. This victory is for the club and everybody involved. I wanted everybody who has been part of this to be in Perth on Saturday.

"We'll have to wait until February to see what happens with Menzieshill in Switzerland. They are in a really hard group in the Champions Cup.

"If they stay up then that means we'll play in the top competition but if they go down then it will be in the second tier.

"The draw is in May but that's a long way ahead. It's been a long season but it has been worth it and, on Saturday, we got what we required, two wins."

Menzieshill, the seven-time champions, did not give up their fight to retain the coveted crown easily.

The Dundee combine whipped Edinburgh outfit Grange 9-1 and then thrashed Glasgow-based Western 15-5.