Former Watsonians coach Calum Wood made a major contribution as Scotland finished fifth in the recent over-40s European Championships hockey tournament in Holland.
Wood, who is a high performance manager at sportscotland Institute of Sport, was joint top scorer in the event.
Scotland are preparing for the Masters World Cup next year and coach Keith Joss said it was a strong achievement for the squad, sponsored by Edinburgh Asset Finance.
It was made up of home-based and Anglo-Scots and the Scots lost their first group match 3-1 to Netherlands with Aberdeen-born Wood, who plays for Dunfermline Carnegie HC, netting.
Joss said: “It was a very close game with the Dutch goalkeeper making an outstanding save from a shot by Falkirk’s Doug Nicol at 2-1.”
They then drew 2-2 with Germany and the coach said: “This was an outstanding performance with goals from Chris Bonnar (Grove Menzieshill) and Alan Wall (Inverleith) and it has been a good day when you are disappointed to draw with Germany.”
A 3-3 draw with France followed and Joss said it was not their best performance as Scotland missed too many chances. Scotland’s goals came from Wood, Bonnar and Wall.
Then they lost 3-2 to England, pulling the score back from a 3-0 half time deficit, and Joss added: “We were unfortunate to not have got more out of the match.” The goals came from Wall and Wood.
In their cross-over placing match, Scotland beat Italy 5-1 and it was a comfortable win after a sticky start with two goals from Fife-based Wood, Brett Simpson (Wimbledon) Nicol and Bonnar.
And in the fifth/sixth play-off Scotland won 2-1 against Ireland but Joss said the squad made life difficult by squandering multiple early chances but held out in the end. The goals came from Bonnar and Wood.
He added: “Overall, a fifth place finish was a strong achievement having not made it to the semi-finals. Netherlands won, Spain were second, England third and Germany fourth.
“Now planning has started already for Masters World Cup 2018 starting on 28 July in Terrassa, near Barcelona.”
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