Hockey: World's best give Scots food for thought

SCOTLAND completed a very productive five day "training camp" which was based in Rotterdam yesterday.

The trip was an ideal opportunity to continue the build up to the Commonwealth Games in Dehli and coach Gordon Shepherd was delighted to have this chance to make use of the wonderful training facilities available as well as being able to take on the world's No 1 side.

The games themselves were a hard lesson on how to cope with the skill, pace and power of a team who are the current Olympic and European champions. The Dutch have many world class players in their ranks including the current World Player of the Year Naomi Van As.

Holland are in the final stages of preparations for the World Cup in Rosario, Argentina at the end of the month.

The two defeats by five and eight goal margins have, however, to be put into context as there are 22 places separate the two countries in the world rankings.

"There were many positives to be taken from this exercise and it gave us an insight on how players could handle very testing situations whilst bearing in mind they are unlikely to face anything on this level in Dehli," said Shepherd.

Scotland attempted, particularly in the second game, to take the game to the Dutch rather than settle for damage limitation and Shepherd added: "That would have been the easier option but we felt it would be of more benefit to adopt a positive approach."