Hockey: Inverleith survive a late scare to win knock-out cup

INVERLEITH shrugged off the disappointment of losing their Subway Indoor National League crown to Grove Menzieshill by beating the Taysiders 7-6 in the final of the knock-out cup at Bells Sports Centre in Perth.

But it was a close call. As Inverleith led by the odd goal in 13 with 30 seconds left, Gavin Byers found the net for the Dundonians for what appeared to be the equaliser, only for the umpire to disallow the strike as he had illegally used the back of his stick.

In a ding-dong first half with the lead changing hands four times, the Edinburgh side reached the break 4-3 ahead. Andrew Sinclair opened, followed by goals from Phil Hall, Adam MacKenzie from a penalty corner and Tom Cousins, Ben Cromar (2) and Sam Tilston replying for the Taysiders.

Stephen Dick made it 5-3 in the second half, but back came Menzieshill through Michael Ross. Two goals in as many minutes by John Harris and Hall again effectively sealed the result, although there were late strikes by Menzieshill’s Chris Wilson and Ross McPherson, but Inverleith held out and the trophy headed east to Edinburgh.

CALA Edinburgh were the surprise packet in the women’s cup by seeing off league champions Grove Menzieshill 4-3 in the opening semi-final, and Sarah Robertson was the heroine by scoring all CALA’s four goals. A shock looked on the cards when the Edinburgh side led 3-1 midway through the second half, but Grove levelled the scores through Jaime Lyon and Linda Clement. Robertson struck again, and then luck deserted the Dundonians as Leigh Fawcett’s penalty corner was saved on the line by a defender and an overtime set piece was wasted.

CALA couldn’t repeat the giant-killing in the final and lost 8-2 to Dundee Wanderers, 2-0 winners over Milne Craig Western in the other semi-final. Three goals in the opening six minutes by Rachael Osborne (2) and Sam Sangster knocked the stuffing out of CALA, then Amy Rowan made it four from a penalty corner just after the interval. CALA immediately made a mini fight-back with strikes by Robertson again and Amy-Jane Russell, but that simply encouraged the Taysiders to pile on more goals through Rowan, Sangster, Julie Bryce (2) and finally Fiona Plane.

• Great Britain men finished off their tour of South Africa with a 3-3 draw in the final test match at Stellenbosch on Saturday, a result that ties the series as both sides had won a game each in the previous encounters.