Women’s hockey – Swanson makes her mark

Gordon Shepherd delivering a half-time team talk to Bromac Kelburne at Grange on Saturday. Picture Nigel Duncan Media

Laura Swanson made a big impression in her debut for Scotland’s senior women’s side after battling back from two career-threatening knee injuries.

The Edinburgh University player hit the crossbar after 25 minutes as Scotland drew 1-1 in Belfast with Ireland on Sunday in the opening fixture of a triple-header.

Scotland play Ireland at Banbridge on Tuesday (7pm) and Shepherd was also impressed with three other players making their debut, Emily Dark (Dundee Wanderers), Lorna Cruickshank (Durham University) and Rachael Mack (Leicester).

Shepherd added: “I’m very happy at the level of performance especially considering all the players played for their clubs on Saturday and travelled to Ireland on Sunday for the match. We could easily have won the game.”

He added: “I’ll be looking for the players to continue the level of performance into the next game, improve in a couple of areas, and hopefully get the result we want.”