2018 World Cup - Grand Masters (Over 60)
Barcelona 20-30 June 2018
The 2018 Grand Masters Hockey World Cup toook place at Real Club de Polo, Barcelona and Castelldefels from Wednesday 20 to Saturday 30 May.
18 teams took part in the Grand Masters (Over 60) World Cup, in two pools of five teams and two pools of four teams. Scotland were in Pool B with Australia, South Africa, and newcomers Canada and USA.
Pool A Matches
Thursday 21 June
Netherlands 5 Wales 0
Japan 2 Italy 0
Friday 22 June
Netherlands 11 Italy 0
Japan 2 France 0 
Saturday 23 June
Wales 3 France 0
Sunday 24 June
Netherlands 15 France 0
Wales 0 Italy 1
Monday 25 June
Netherlands 8 Japan 0
Tuesday 26 June
10:45 Pitch 1 France v Italy
16:00 Pitch 1 Wales v Japan
Great Grand Masters Pool A
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pt |
GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 39 | ||
| Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | -4 | ||
| Wales | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | -3 | ||
| Italy | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | -12 | ||
| France | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -20 |
Pool B
Thursday 21 June
Australia 7 Scotland 
0
Canada 0 South Africa 3 
Australia 7 (Johnson, Lewis 2, Shepherd, Same, Campbell, Pohlman) Scotland 0
In the heat of the day in Barcelona, Scotland wilted under an Australian onslaught. They had no answer to the Australian penalty corner routines, five of the seven counters coming from short corner, five different Australians scoring in them. Greg Johnson was the first scorer, after ten minutes, and the quarter break brought no respite for Scotland when Geoffrey Lewis scored the first of his two field goals soon after the restart. Peter Shepherd converted a penalty corner on 33 miniutes to put Australia 3-0 up at the break. Norman Same added a fourth after 39 minutes and five minutes later David Campbell made it five. Scotland stopped the rot until close to the end of the match when Robert Pohlman scored the last of the five short corner goals on 66 minutes and Geoffrey Lewis finished off the scoring with his second field goal a minute later.
With a day off to follow, Scotland need to regroup ahead of their next match against newcomers USA who surely must be less challenging opposition than the rampant Australian team. Australia were always the favourites for the group and Scotland should not let this result weigh on them and prevent their finishing second in their pool.
Friday 22 June
Australia 7 Canada 0
South Africa 1 USA 1 
Saturday 23 June
Scotland 5 USA 1
Scotland 5 (Bishop, D. Hay, Johnstone, Sturrock, A. Hay pen) USA 1 (Bale)
Against a team appearing for the first time in the Grand Masters World Cup, Scotland started at a high tempo and scored via a Hew Bishop reverse stick shot in 8 minutes. Scotland continued to press forward but were caught on a USA counter attack in 19 minutes when USA got one goal back through their captain Peter Bale - really against the run of play. Scotland continued their attacking game and scored a second goal in 29 minutes from a Donny Hay solo run down the right wing and a tight angle shot past US goalkeeper Andrew Jardine. Scotland were pushing forward playing some inventive hockey with some really good moving of the ball and USA were visibly tiring. Scotland's third goal in 41 minutes was a drive by Derek Johnstone into the circle and a fierce shot which the goalkeeper could do absolutely nothing about. This third goal settled the Scots who continued to play some attractive hockey and they were rewarded four minutes later when Niall Sturrock gathered the ball in the circle in front of the US goalkeeper and beat him with a controlled flick. In 49 minutes Hew Bishop was driving into the circle and was upended by keeper Andrew Jardine resulting in a penalty stroke which Ali Hay duly despatched.
While there were no more Scottish goals, there were further shots at goal which the US goalkeeper did well to keep out and some great interplay. With both Australia and South Africa on full points after their first two matches, this result set up Scotland for their game against Canada the following afternoon - a decisive win would move them into second place with South Africa having no match.
Sunday 24 June
Canada 0 Scotland 4
USA 0 Australia 6
Canada 0 Scotland 4 (D. Hay 2, Morrison, Robertson)
Scotland made a great start to the match, Donny Hay running in a field goal in four minutes to put them one up. It took until the very end of the third quarter for the Scots to find the net again, Bernie Morrison scoring another open play goal. Arthur Robertson scored Scotland's first penalty corner goal of the tournament three minutes into the last quarter and Donny Hay added his second, and Scotland's fourth goal from open play two minutes later. The final score of 4-0 does not reveal the number of clear chances spurned by Scotland, misses that could cost them dear in the race for second place in the pool.
Only a win against South Africa in their final group match would do if Scotland were to qualify for the quarter finals (places 1-8), after South Africa held on to their goal difference in going down narrowly to Australia in their match in hand.
Monday 25 June
Australia 2 South Africa 1
Tuesday 26 June
Canada 0 USA 5
Scotland 4 South Africa 1
Scotland 4 (D. Hay, A. Hay 2, Sturrock) South Africa 1 (Bedford)
Scotland did the needful in their final pool match, in the end comfortably seeing off their rivals for second place. Scotland opened the scoring early in the second quarter when Donny Hay scored from open play, giving Scotland a 1-0 lead at half time but Glyn Bedford scored from a penalty corner shortly after the restart to put South Africa level. South Africa's robust approach to the match was reflected in the number of cards they picked up - a total of seven including a red for a second yellow for Michael Campbell. Ali Hay restored Scotland's lead from a penalty corner in 45 minutes, then with Michael Campbell off for the first of his yellow cards, Niall Sturrock in 60 minutes and Ali Hay again in 62 minutes scored field goals to put Scotland 4-1 up. Five minutes after coming on again, Michael Campbell got his second yellow card, and the inevitable red card for two yellows, in 67 minutes and South Africa were done. Scotland had qualified for the semi finals and faced Spain the following day.
Grand Masters Pool B
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pt |
GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 12 | 21 |
| South Africa | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Scotland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| USA | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 0 | -6 |
| Canada | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 0 | -19 |
Pool C
Thursday 21 June
Germany 2 Ireland 0 
Spain 6 Singapore 0 
Friday 22 June
Ireland 9 Singapore 0
Spain 1 Germany 0
Sunday 24 June
Germany 7 Singapore 1
Spain 2 Ireland 1
Grand Masters Pool C
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pt |
GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | ||
| Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | ||
| Ireland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Singapore | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -21 |
Pool D
Thursday 21 June
England 4 Belgium 0 
New Zealand 12 Argentina 0 
Friday 22 June
England 6 New Zealand 0
Belgium 12 Argentina 0
Sunday 24 June
Belgium 1 New Zealand 2
Argentina 0 England 11
Grand Masters Pool D
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pt |
GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| Belgium | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -4 |
| Argentina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | -12 |
Classification Matches
The four quarter finals QF1-8 will be played out by the teams finishing first and second in each pool, competing for places 1-8. The four winners will go on to the semi finals SF1-4 where the winners will go into the final and the losers will play off for third and fourth place, and the four losers will play in the semi finals SF5-8 on the same basis, the winners playing off for positions 5 and 6 and the losers for positions 7 and 8. The teams finishing third and fourth in each pool will take part in play offs, competing for places 9-16, with the same format as for the quarter finals (QF9-16) and semi finals (SF9-12 and SF13-16). The two teams finishing fifth will play each other twice to decide places 17 and 18. If Scotland finish in positions 1-4 in Pool B, they will play a team from Pool C in the quarter finals.
Wednesday 27 June
Netherlands 8 New Zealand 2 [160] QF1-8
Australia 0 Germany 1[161]
QF1-8
Spain 1 Scotland 0 [162] QF1-8
England 3 Wales 0 [163]
QF1-8
Japan 7 Argentina 0
[164] QF9-16
South Africa 2 Singapore 1 [165] QF9-16
Ireland 4 USA 0 [166]
QF9-16
Belgium 2 Italy 2 (2-1 SO) [167]
QF9-16
Spain 1 Scotland 0
Coach Murray Paton described this match as 'a travesty of hockey'. Spain sat deep in a tight defensive formation, frustrating the Scots who had the majority of the play but just could not find a way past the host side. The match was decided by a dubious penalty when the ball deflected off a Spanish foot and hit Glenn Paton's leg. The umpire missed the Spanish foot and awarded a penalty in their favour. The penalty was converted and, with Scotland unable to find the equaliser, the goal was enough to put Spain into the semi finals and relegate Scotland to the 5-8 play offs.
Thursday 28 June
Japan 0 Ireland 4 [185] SF9-12
South Africa 1 Belgium 1 (0-1 SO) [186] SF9-12
Argentina 0 USA 4 [187] SF13-16
Singapore 0 Italy 0 (3-2 SO) [188]
SF13-16
Friday 29 June
France 0 Canada 2 [199] 17-18 Final
Netherlands 4 Spain 1 [205] SF1-4
Germany 0 England 3
[206] SF1-4
New Zealand 0 Scotland 4 [207] SF5-8
Australie 5 Wales 0 [208] SF5-8
New Zealand 0 Scotland 4 (Taylor, D. Hay 2, McArthur)
Scotland put aside the disappointment of losing out on a semi final place with a decisive win against New Zealand in which they played the best hockey so far in the tournament. New Zealand took the game to Scotland from the start, with some tricky stick work from their central midfielders which ultimately ended when the solid Scottish defence took the ball off them in the circle. Scotland stuck to the game plan of using the whole width of the pitch, and Donny Hay on the right wing was looking prominent when Scotland broke upfield, clearly having the measure of his opponent. It was no surprise that the Scottish winger had a hand in the first goal just before the quarter break, going round his man, taking it along the bye line, and cutting it back to Billy Taylor who calmly netted to give the Scots the lead. Four minutes into the second quarter and the same pairing in reverse produced the second goal. Billy Taylor broke through in the inside left channel, drew the defence, and slipped the ball to Donny Hay to crash it into the New Zealand net, making the score 2-0.
New Zealand seemed dazed by losing two goals and fell out of the match, retreating into defence where they were probed and pummelled by Scottish attacks, Donny Hay in particular causing them all sorts of problems. The half time break should have given them a chance to re-adjust but instead they lost another goal after only three minutes of the half when Donny Hay's direct shot at a penalty corner went right through the NZ keeper. Two minutes later, Scotland were in easy street when Alasdair McArthur completed the scoring with a fine shot. New Zealand finally stirred themselves and c ame back into the game, Ronnie Stott having to make a couple of fine saves to keep his clean sheet. With the play becoming more open, Scotland manufactured a number of chances but none was converted and the match finished 4-0 in their favour.
Coach Murray Paton was purring with delight after the match, having seen his team carry out his instructions to the letter. Gone was the forcing play down the middle with individuals trying to do everything themselves, replaced with team work, support play and incisive wing attacks. With Australia having unexpectedly fallen out of the semi finals, they present formidable opponents in the 5-6 final but if Scotland can replicate this display against the other Antipodean side, they had a great chance of emulating the fifth place earned by Scotland Grand Masters in the Hong Kong World Cup of 2008.
Saturday 30 June
New Zealand 2 Wales 3 7-8 Final
Scotland 1 (Sturrock) Australia 3 (Pestana, Murray, Campbell) 5-6
Final
USA 5 Singapore 1 13-14 Final
Argentina 2 Italy 5 15-16 Final
Spain 0 Germany 1 3-4 Final
Ireland 4 Belgium 0 9-10 Final
Netherlands 1 England 0 1-2 Final
Japan 2 South Africa 1 11-12 Final
Scotland Squad
Hew Bishop, John Candlin, Ben Gibson, Ali Hay, Donny Hay, John Hay, Derek Johnstone, Gordon MacKenzie, Alasdair McArthur, Bernie Morrison, Glenn Paton, Arthur Robertson, Ronnie Stott, Niall Sturrock, Billy Taylor, Ian Wilson
