Western hockey stars help Scotland to international success

Rob Harwood of Western Wildcats and Scotland

The Scots finished runners-up in the competition, denied gold only by Russia beating Portugal in their final match.

But second place was enough for them to qualify for the next stage of the competition, the Hockey Series Finals.

The Scots opened with a 7-2 win over Turkey and followed that up by defeating Portugal 2-0 with Harwood, from Milngavie, netting the all-important second goal.

The striker was on target again in the next match against Gibraltar.

Once more Harwood got the second goal in a 2-0 win which propelled the Scots to the top of the standings as the only team with a 100 per cent record.

But they suffered their only defeat of the tournament, and it proved a critical one, when they lost 4-1 to Russia in their penultimate match.

The Scots rounded off their tournament in style by hammering Belarus 4-0, Harwood hitting the third goal to bring his own personal tally to three.

But their hopes of gold were dashed when Russia, whose only hiccup was a draw against Belarus, ran riot against Portugal with an astonishing 13-1 win to clinch the gold.