Hockey: Daniel Coultas fires Scotland to narrow win over Canada

A PENALTY corner strike from debutant Daniel Coultas gave Scotland a fighting 3-2 victory over Canada in the first Test match at Peffermill last night.

It was not the best of starts for Scotland's experimental side, Adam MacKenzie needlessly gave the ball away and the Canadians quickly punished the lapse to go one up. Eight minutes later Coultas, on his first cap for Scotland, sent a drag flick into the roof of the Canadian net for the equaliser.

A couple of minutes after the interval Chris Grassick put the Scots 2-1 ahead with a fierce reverse stick shot from the top of the circle. This initiated a spell of intense Canadian pressure which was rewarded with the equaliser. Just as a draw looked on the cards, up stepped Coultas to send a low flick into the net for a famous victory.

Meanwhile. Linda Clement leads Scottish champions Grove Menzieshill to Dublin for the European Club Champions Trophy over Easter with a clear target, to win the tournament and return the Taysiders to the prestigious EuroLeague next season.

As Grove fell out of the EuroLeague last year, they are seeded top of a truncated pool consisting of only Metrostroy St Petersburg (Russia) and Victorya Smolevichi (Belarus). Kolos Borispol (Ukraine) were disqualified by the European Hockey Federation for not paying the deposits for the hotel.

"We know very little about the other teams in our pool, but traditionally Eastern European sides adopt a fairly unorthodox but direct style of play," said Clement.

"They are usually very physical and we expect each team to have a few very skilful individual players."

Grove go into Europe on the back of a very successful domestic season, winning the league and cup double and maintaining an unbeaten record in the process.

"To have a successful European tournament would top the season off nicely," remarked Clement.

With no game yesterday, the Scottish champions open their account today against Metrostroy St Petersburg and a win is crucial.

In the men's European Club Trophy in Rome, a hat-trick of penalty conversions from Western Wildcats captain Andrew Sewnauth was not enough to give his side the full five points as the Scots were held to a dramatic 4-4 draw by French side St Germain in the second pool match yesterday.

Western cannot now reach top spot in the pool, however a win over Welsh side Whitchurch today would keep them in the running for the bronze medal.