Hockey: Kelburne are made to fight all the way to secure place in the final

Glynhill Kelburne made it into the final of the European Club Champions Trophy in Lille, but made heavy weather of securing the necessary point in their 3-3 draw with Austrian champions SV Arminen.

Player/coach Mark Ralph predicted that this would be Kelburne’s most difficult game in the pool competition and he was proved correct. However, the Paisley side contributed to their own problems with some sloppy defending and indiscipline.

In the opening exchanges Kelburne goalkeeper Mark Fulton had to make a couple of saves before the Scots took the lead with the goal of the tournament so far. Chris Nelson took a pass from Jonny Christie and from a narrow angle fired a vicious reverse stick shot past the keeper into the top corner of the net.

Kelburne’s route to the final seemed certain after Michael Christie scored a second from close range but then the wheels came off. Ross McIntyre, Michael Bremner and Jonny Christie all spent time in the sin-bin and the Austrians took full advantage, scoring three times through Sebastian Eitenberger, Robert Bele and Manuel Grandits. In the interim, Alan Forsyth scored the third for the Paisley side from the spot.

With the score at 3-3, the final 15 minutes were full of tension as the Paisley defence held on for the draw. “We gave the Austrians too much leeway at the back, we will need a stronger defence for the final,” said Kelburne’s manager, Harry Coles .

On Saturday Kelburne swept aside Welsh champions Whitchurch 5-2 to move to the top of the pool. They made the best of starts, Ross McIntrye passing to Willie Marshall who was brought down in the circle and Alan Forsyth scoring from the spot. Kelburne dominated but created few clear-cut chances until the 27th minute when Lee Morton set up Forsyth to fire into the roof of the net. Poor marking right on the interval then allowed Nicholas Rees to pull one back for Whitchurch.

Two goals in as many minutes in the second half exposed some leaks in the Welsh defence, with Jonny Christie and Willie Marshall scoring to put the Paisley men 4-1 ahead.

With the points secure, Kelburne relaxed and Mark Ralph added a fifth before Whitchurch notched a late consolation goal through Noor Hassan

In the women’s event, Grove Menzieshill staved off relegation with a 5-1 win against Italian side Libertas San Saba in Belfast. A Louise Baxter goal at a penalty corner was the only strike of the first half, but after the interval Linda Clement hit a hat-trick before Ailsa Wyllie completed the scoring in the final minute. On Saturday Grove effectively fell out of contention for honours when they were beaten 4-0 by the powerful Ukrainian side Sumchanka.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s under-16 girls won the three test match series against Wales in Wrexham, despite having lost 3-1 yesterday.

At the same venue, Scotland’s under-16 boys’ development squad beat Wales 4-2. Glenalmond’s Rory Pritchard scored twice with Ross Buchanan from Strathallan and CALA Edinburgh’s Cameron Good getting the others.

Finally, the under-18 boys drew 1-1 with Wales with Inverleith’s Tom Barton scoring the goal.