Scotland Senior Men will play host to Wales at Peffermill in Edinburgh this weekend with two international matches on 15 and 16 June.
Derek Forsyth
Scottish Hockey Coach
With a number of players recovering from injury, Scotland Men Head Coach Derek Forsyth has drafted in a number of fringe players into the side for the matches against their Welsh counterparts, including Inverleith goalkeeper David Forrester and club team-mate Chris Duncan, Western Wildcats shot-stopper Gavin Sommerville, Clydesdale’s Fraser Hirst and Grove Menzieshill pair Paul Martin and Michael Ross.
Scotland Team Manager Eugene Connolly said, “We have Alan Forsyth, Michael Bremner, Dan Coultas, William Marshall and Chris Nelson, so the players we have brought into the squad have opportunity to impress at this level and possibly force their way into Derek’s thinking for the European squad in August. We also want to assess the two goalkeepers during this weekend’s matches.”
“The games against Wales and England A next weekend give us a chance to consider the wider squad and start planning for the warm-up internationals against Czech Republic and Spain in July. Ideally, we want to be in a position to take a group of players on these two trips that will more than likely play in Vienna when the European competition starts.”
Graham Moodie
Recalled to the Scotland Team
Scotland and Great Britain veteran Graham Moodie also returns to the fold to join brother Ian in the senior squad, while THC Hurley striker Kenny Bain will win his 100th international cap in the second of the two games.
The Scots will play Wales in the EuroHockey Nations Championship II in Vienna, and the two encounters this weekend will give the coaching staff the benefit of assessing a key opponent ahead of their clash in the Austrian capital this coming August.
“Our focus is the performance, but the results also matter”, continued Connolly. “We want to be competitive so the players will be targeting wins from these two games, particularly to lay a marker down before we face Wales again later in the summer. It should be a fantastic weekend for hockey with the senior women also playing South Africa at Peffermill and hopefully we will see a good crowd and good weather for the occasion.”