Great Grand Masters Home Internationals
Peffermill, Edinburgh 10-12 July 2015

With Ireland still not able to raise an Over 65 team, the Great Grand Masters tournament was contested by England (holders), Scotland and Wales. England's impressive squad had no trouble in retaining the trophy, going through the tournament without conceding a goal. Richard Yardley of England was top scorer with four goals.

Friday 10 July
Scotland flag Scotland 1 Wales 4 Wales flag
Scotland: Tucker
Wales: Donnelly, Willis (2), Gangotra

Scotland started promisingly but soon started to cede possession to Wales, and it was aganst the run of play that they opened the scoring in the first quarter with a magnificent solo goal from Tucker, who picked up the ball on half way. His speed took him clear of his marker and the umpire gave a good advantage when the Scottish forward was tackled illegally by the Welsh central defender but broke past him to run in on the keeper. Colin kept his nerve and slipped the ball into the net to put Scotland ahead. Scotland played much better in the second quarter but let things slip just on the point of half time when Willis, unmarked on the far post, was able to slip the ball into the net to make the half time score 1-1. The second half was all downhill for Scotland, their thin squad further depleted by injuries to Turner and Parker, the latter being able to take no further part in the match. Wales used their substitutes well, putting increasing pressure on the tiring Scottish defence. Scotland resisted until just under six minutes to go, thanks to good saves from Pearce, one diving spectacularly to his right to deflect a Welsh shot past the post, plus a bit of luck when a loose ball came off the post and was swept away by the Scottish defence. With the Scottish midfield now posted missing through exhaustion, the sky fell in with just over five minutes left. Goals from Gangotra, Johnson and a second credited to Willis, though Salisbury's effort appeared to have crossed the line first, left Scotland wondering what had hit them. Final score 4-1 to Wales.

Saturday 11 July
England flag England 6 Wales 0 Wales flag GGM
England: Johnson, Hutchings, Yardley (3), Denison

Sunday 12 July
England flag England 7 Scotland 0 Scotland flag GGM
England: Bansal (2), Johnson, Yardley, Sheikh (2, 1 pen), Hicks

With Parker unable to take the field, Scotland were down to only thirteen players and faced an uphill struggle against a very strong England side. Playing with five across midfield, Scotland did their best to resist the tide of attacks from England but conceded a goal scored by Bansal in the first quarter, with a further two counters by Johnson and Yardley before half time to give England a 3-0 lead at the break. As in the second quarter, Scotland were caught cold and Sheikh took advantage by running in a fourth at the very start of the second half. Bansal picked up his second a few minutes later and the third quarter ended with Hicks scoring from a short corner move and Sheikh claiming his second goal from a penalty stroke. Scotland teams in the past would have crumbled under a combination of strong opposition and tiring bodies but this one fought to the end and kept a clean sheet in the final quarter. Credit must go to the players for keeping going to the end and continuing to play hockey in spite of the score - a good team performance and one on which they must build.

Kieran McLernan presents Clive Hicks with the Great Grand Masters Trophy at the 2015 Home Internationals, Peffermill Edinburgh 12 July 2015
England Captain Clive Hicks is presented with the trophy

Table

  P W D L F A Pt GD
England 2 2 0 0 13 0 6 13
Wales 2 1 0 1 4 7 3 -3
Scotland 2 0 0 2 1 11 0 -10

 

Squads

England

Santa Bansal, Trevor Denison, Clive Hicks (Captain), Mark Hollingsworth, Greg Hutchings, George Johnson, Colin Kimber (GK), Ian Mellor, Barry Mills, John Ridings, Imtiaz Sheikh, Richard Slator, Brian Stokes, Neil Stone, Sarosh Talati, Richard Yardley

Scotland

Scotland Great Grand Masters at 2015 Home Internationals Peffermill 12 July 2015

Alan Auld, Ernie Brittain-Dodd, Alex Cathro, Roy Crichton, Ian Downie, Donald Dunbar, Colin Gallacher, Peter Gordon (Captain), David Margerison, Alan Parker, Dick Pearce (GK), Colin Tucker, Douglas Turner, Sandy Weir.

Wales

Richard Chapman, Alan Coles, Martin Day, John Donnelly, Ramesh Gangotra, Richard Harbottle, Roger Harris, Chris Hills, Chris Holland, Ben Johnson (Captain), Tony Nicholas, Chris Parry, Derek Salisbury, Barry Sewell, Roger Willis, Phil Withers

Grand Masters Reports