Scotland overwhelm Welsh to win Junior Nations cup in style

Two years ago the Scots had underperformed at the elite Championship in San Sebastian and had consequently suffered relegation.

Scotland did make heavy weather of the start, allowing the Welsh to dictate the first 15 minutes without looking in any real danger. However, when Scotland won their first corner midway through the half, Josh Cairns stepped up to fire a low drag flick past the Welsh keeper.

This goal appeared to release any pressure and Scotland began to turn up the heat. Five minutes later, a high ball from Cairns was quite brilliantly controlled by Callum Milne who then fed Kenny Bain, at the top of the circle, and he fired a fierce reverse stick effort into the roof of the net.

Then minutes before half-time, the Welsh defence were pulled apart by a sparkling four-man move which ended with Milne scoring with a low reverse shot to give Scotland a three-goal cushion.

The second half quickly turned into a nightmare for the Welsh as the Scots produced a blistering half of hockey similar to that which had seen off the Czech Republic in the semi-final.

Bain started the rout with a deflected effort from a Nicky Parkes pass. Then the McIntyre brothers Gordon and Ross combined to set up John Harris for the fifth.

Milne and Cairns grabbed their second goals before Bain completed his hat trick from an Alan Forsyth pass. Skipper Gordon McIntyre rounded off the rout with the ninth goal.

Scotland were the outstanding side of the tournament, with no other team equipped to make any sort of credible challenge throughout the week. Italy, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and Wales, who they had met in the initial pool stage as well, were on the receiving end of an incredible 35 goal onslaught, with only 5 goals were conceded.

Bain, Milne and Harris were the main contributors to the goal tally, whilst the set-piece expertise of Cairns also proved a potent weapon.

Goalkeeper Tommy Alexander played his part in the success by keeping the back door firmly shut, with Kelburne's David Forsyth also prominent in defence and Gordon McIntyre pulling the strings in midfield.

The fact that the squad contained several players with full international experience, such as the Kelburne trio of Bain, Alan Forsyth and McIntyre, Inverleith's Harris and Wei Adams, of Grange, was obviously beneficial and this was very much evident in the exceptionally mature level of performance achieved, especially considering they also carried the additional burden of the "favourites tag."

Cairns won the Tournament Top Scorer Award and Bain was named Player of the Tournament.

A delighted Forsyth said: "I'm very pleased for the boys who have put a lot of work into the preparation programme for this tournament.

"Although Kenny Bain was the Player of the Tournament, all the boys deserve recognition for the standard of play throughout the whole tournament."

For the women's under-21 team, playing in the corresponding tournament in Lille, Scotland finished with an excellent 3-0 win over France.

The Scots were creative, confident and relaxed as they set about pressurising the perhaps over-confident French, and used their possession to great effect. Louise Fleming, Sophie McIntyre and Daniele Johnston were the scorers.