Scotland begin by thrashing Ireland

Scotland made a great start to the Eurohockey Indoor Championship III in Santander, Spain, yesterday with a convincing 11-3 victory over Ireland.

Among the scorers for the Scots, who today face Slovenia and Wales before rounding off the group stages against the hosts, were Grove Menzieshill’s Jamie and Cammy Golden and Dundee Wanderers’ Elliott Sandison.

● As predicted, women’s defending champions Dundee Wanderers sailed through their final league stage contests with an exemplary record in Perth last weekend.

Meanwhile, city neighbours Grove Menzieshill took a morale-boosting six of the nine points on offer.

Tomorrow, the campaign switches to the pool stage following which four teams will advance to the semi-finals while the remainder battle it out to stave off the spectre of relegation.

Another stroll in the park is anticipated for the title holders as they face-off against Watsonians and Grange before a final pool A clash against Edinburgh University on 2 February 2.

Clydesdale Western start favourites to top pool B, however it’s not quite as clear-cut as the opposite side of the draw since dark horses Inverleith have proved themselves a threat. That particular question will be answered following the head-to-head in game three.

Next up it’s Grove Menzieshill versus Hillhead and a repeat of the tense closing encounter in the league stage which the Taysiders scraped through by the odd goal in five.

Grove’s final clash will be two weeks on against Grange but with the capital team already hovering over the trapdoor, the significance of tomorrow’s match-up against Hillhead cannot be understated.

Divisions 2 and 3 play in the traditional – and much less complicated – home and away system.

Western Wildcats are destined to win promotion, but Wanderers’ second string have also made their presence felt with six wins from nine. They are on a three-match programme at DISC spanning Granite City, Aberdeen Bon Accord and Clydesdale II.

Their Grove counterparts also line up against Granite City following their morning clash against Inverleith II.

Perthshire are hot tips to see off Watsonians II before closing the programme against Stirling Wanderers.