Watson’s win cup in clinical style

In an evenly-matched final, Watson’s beat Mary Erskine’s School 1-0 and gained revenge for last month’s defeat by the same scoreline in the East of Scotland Knockout Cup.

“It is fabulous to retain the trophy and it was another very close match,” said the Watson’s coach, Linda Clement.

The goal came via a penalty corner, scored after the hooter had gone to mark the end of the first half. Catriona McLellan, a member of the Scottish under-16 squad, took the penalty, Ailsa Small slipped the ball to Hannah and the skipper scored the vital goal.

In the second half, Mary Erskine’s Lucy Preston suffered an injury and had to leave the field and then Amy McPherson, who scored the goal in the East of Scotland final, went down with cramp. With just 19 seconds left on the clock, Mary Erskine’s got a penalty corner but Watson’s Kirsty McKean made a great saving tackle.

“It’s a long day with a lot of matches and so it is not surprising that there are some injury problems,” said Clement. “But the whole tournament produced a great standard of hockey.”

In the semi-finals, George Watson’s scored a 1-0 win over the High School of Glasgow and Mary Erskine’s overcame Kelso High School 2-0. Watson’s were in such clinical form in the pool stages – beating Gordonstoun 6-0, Kelso High School 2-0 and St Columba’s School 6-0 – that they scored more goals over the day than all the other teams put together.

Following the girls’ day-long event, the boys took over for their Cup final and Glenalmond College claimed the trophy with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Loretto.

The match was really over as a contest by half-time. Will Jack opened for the Perthshire side in 14 minutes and there followed further strikes by Robbie Swift and Archie Farquharson. In the second half, Farquharson added his second to make it 4-0.

The semi-finals were played a few days earlier and both were decided by a penalty shoot-out. Glenalmond were held 2-2 by Fettes before going through 2-1 on penalties. It was the same score between Loretto and Gordonstoun, with the Musselburgh outfit winning 4-3 on penalties.

Meanwhile, Watson’s girls just failed to complete a double when the team lost 2-1 to the High School of Glasgow in the Under-16 Scottish Cup final at Strathallan. In the boys’ final, home team Strathallan School beat Clydesdale 2-1.

Results

Pool A: Mary Erskine’s 0 High School of Glasgow 0; Mary Erskine’s 1 Strathallan 0; Mary Erskine’s 1 Robert Gordon’s College 0; High School of Glasgow 2 Robert Gordon’s College 0; Strathallan 1 High School of Glasgow 0; Robert Gordon’s College 1 Strathallan 0.

Pool B: George Watson’s College 6 Gordonstoun 0; George Watson’s College 2 Kelso High School 0; George Watson’s College 6 St Columba’s School 0; St Columba’s School 1 Gordonstoun 0; Kelso High School 3 Gordonstoun 0; Kelso High School 2 St Columba’s School 1.

Semi-finals: Mary Erskine’s 2 Kelso High School 0; George Watson’s 1 High School of Glagsow 0.

Final: George Watson’s 1 Mary Erskine’s 0.

Final teams

George Watson’s College: Eilidh Thomson, Nicky Murray, Ailsa Small, Amy Allard-Dunbar, Hannah Cockburn, Lucy Clark, Kirsty McKean, Emma Stephen, Anna Bryans, Catriona McLellan, Waverley Miller, Kirsten Peters, Laura-Beth Sproule, Ailie Clapperton, Felicity Johnson.

Mary Erskine’s: Abby Young, Rowan Sinclair, Jenny Love, Katie Love, Nina Porteous, Lucy Preston, Amy McPherson, Caitlin Gray, Beth Armstrong, Jenny Docherty, Rebecca Trimble, Kerry-Anne Hastings, Claire Thurlow, Hannah Dodds, Ailsa Pack, Iona Armour.