Wales and Scotland dominate opening matches
Heavy drizzle prevailed as Scotland got their World League 1 campaign underway with an excellent 5-0 win over Switzerland in a pretty one-sided affair at the National Hockey Centre in Glasgow. The win put the Scots top of the table -ahead of Wales who had a marginally less one-sided match against Portugal for their 4-1 win – on goal different after one game.
Before proceedings got underway there were awards for David Forsyth and Alan Forsyth for reaching their 50th and 100th caps for Scotland respectively.
Scotland controlled the match from the start with, Edinburgh University’s, Dan Coultas and Willie Marshall pulling the strings for the hosts. They nearly took an early lead when the ball was smashed into the Swiss D for Alan Forsyth – he managed to get a stick onto it but the goalkeeper made a great save to keep the Scots at bay.
Scotland were knocking on the door again as the half progressed. Kenny Bain passed the ball to Cameron Fraser but the Swiss defence combined well to intercept his effort on goal.
A series of penalty corners saw Coultas cause havoc in the Swiss D. His first effort was deflected past at high speed. His second attempt shortly after was blocked but Bain was there to knock it into the net to give Scotland the lead. 1-0. Coultas was then rewarded for an excellent first half performance with a goal. He chased down a Hamish Imrie shot, prompting a goalkeeping error, which allowed him to slot the ball home and make it 2-0.
Scotland got the second half underway with an early goal. Bain passed the ball into the D for Ed Greaves who teed it up for Alan Forsyth to smash the ball past the goalkeeper for 3-0.
Scotland then had three chances to increase their lead in close succession. Lee Morton was denied a goal by a good save. It was Bain again who fashioned the opening but the goalkeeper saved 
Morton’s effort with his legs. Grange HC’s Cameron Fraser was unlucky not to score Scotland’s fourth. Patch Christie smashed the ball into the D and Fraser diverted it wide from close range.
The fourth goal eventually came when Willie Marshall struck the ball into the D and Hamish Imrie dived to deflect the ball past the goalkeeper at speed. 4-0. Alan Forsyth rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot following a push on Fraser. He placed the ball hard and low into the left corner to make it 5-0.
Switzerland claimed the final chance of the match with a penalty corner on full time, allowing the whole team to join the attack. However, a fine save by the keeper, kept the sheet clean, ending the match on 5-0.
Wales and Portugal opened the tournament prior to the Scotland match with a fairly uninspiring encounter which saw Wales put four past the Portuguese keeper against one goal in the back of the Welsh net. Portugal were hampered with ill discipline at times – although Wales ended up with a greater ‘card count’ – with one of their number, Luis Tavares, eventually seeing red for, what may be euphemistically described as, ‘dissent’
Scotland v Switzerland match report courtesy of Scottish Hockey (with minor modifications)
Images from both matches will appear here over the next few days
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