School sport: Edinburgh sides eye repeat of great final

George Heriot's skipper Fiona Plain will be among a number of excellent players to watch in Perth

Scotland's top schoolgirl indoor hockey players are counting down to the national finals, which take place on Saturday at the Bell's Sport Centre in Perth.

The under-18 girls indoor cup finals day will see the six best age-grade teams in the country compete for the trophy.

Mary Erskine's qualified from the East and will be in pool A, with Kelso High School representing the Borders and a midlands side which will be decided this week.

Hutchesons' Grammar were the best in the west at the regional stage and are in pool B with holders George Heriot's. The third team, from the north, is yet to be determined as, like the midlands, the weather has caused delays in a regional winner being crowned.

With the two Edinburgh schools, Mary Erskine's and Heriot's, having been kept apart at the group stage, there is a chance that they could meet in the final, where a repeat of a cracking match in the East qualifying tournament before Christmas would be a fitting climax to the event.

In that event held at Currie High School there were only five teams involved so the sides each played each other once to determine the winners.

Heriot's - with skipper Fiona Plain leading superbly from the front - saw off George Watson's, St George's and Inverleith Hockey Club, while Mary Erskine's headed into the final match with two wins and a draw under their belts.

That meant that it was effectively a winner-takes-all encounter between the two and it was nip and tuck all the way. Heriot's took a 2-1 lead before their opponents fought back and won 3-2 in the end thanks to a last-minute converted penalty corner.

Mary Erkine's coach Katie MacKay said: "The girls did really well on the day because we had not trained much for indoor hockey and to play four matches in a short space of time can be energy sapping. You have to have really good awareness and speed to play indoors compared to outdoors and we have been trying to train as much as possible in the last week since school returned.

"We will head to finals day and the girls will give their all. Hopefully it can see us come back with another trophy, but it won't be easy."

Heriot's are keen to hold on to the trophy they won 12 months ago by defeating Dundee High in the final, but they will face a stiff challenge to repeat their triumph, with Hutcheson's in particular likely to provide testing opposition.

Heriot's coach Gill Mollison said: "The final against Mary Erskine in the East event was evenly matched between two good teams and could have gone either way.Unfortunately for us it didn't go our way, but the girls are looking forward to trying to defend their trophy this weekend."

Players to watch out for on Saturday are likely to include Mary Erskine's Lucy Preston who is in the Scottish under-18 squad and Heriot's skipper Plain - who is already a member of the Scotland under-21 squad. Heriot's goalkeeper Kate Smith and Amber McNeill, who are both in the Scotland under-18 squad, are another pair who could catch the eye.

Hutchesons' Grammar are a strong unit too, and their squad includes a number of Scotland under-18 squad members. They are coached by former Olympian and national under-21 coach Rhona Simpson.