Hockey: Grange go for gold and the glory in Croatian tournament

GRANGE were today set to play Czech Republic cracks SK Slavia Praha in Zagreb with the gold medal and promotion to the second tier of the EuroHockey Club Championship at stake.

The Edinburgh side claimed a sensational 5-1 victory over Gibraltar-based Eagles in their final Pool A game yesterday.

Yesterday, Scotland Under-21 defender Fraser Sands maintained his purple patch as Grange shot down Eagles. Sands, who claimed a penalty corner double in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Czech Republic side HC 1972 Rakovnik, was one of five separate scorers in a game dominated by the Scots.

Rising star Hamish Imrie –who misses today’s game to sit a GCE exam – broke the deadlock when he deflected Cammy Fraser’s reverse stick shot after ten minutes to give Grange an early lift.

Then, Matt Connor made it 2-0 from a first-time shot into the top corner after good work from Aberdeen-born Adam Walker 13 minutes later and the Scots kept control until the break.

Eagles opened their account eight minutes after the re-start through Mark Wood after sloppy play in defence by the Scots, but Grange were not to be denied.

Four minutes later they led 3-1, the breakthrough coming from Fraser following a penalty corner, and Grange added two more goals in the dying minutes to underline their superiority.

Sands netted his third of the tournament from a penalty corner to make it 4-1 and Duncan Riddell slotted the fifth two minutes from time.