Hockey Scottish Cup final: Watsonians forward Sarah Jamieson on the prospect of winning a double

It could be the perfect end to the season for newly-crowned Premiership hockey champions Watsonians if they can add the Scottish Cup trophy to the collection, but that means beating Edinburgh University in Sunday’s all-Capital final.

"It is not so much pressure but excitement for us,” Watsonians forward Sarah Jamieson.

The 28-year-old has appeared in several Scottish Cup finals but has always ended up disappointed and now has an opportunity to put it right.

Jamieson currently has a packed portfolio of private client work for leading law firm T C Young and crams domestic and international hockey for Scotland into a busy lifestyle.

Sarah Jamieson (orange bib) shields the ball from Amy Costello in training with Scotland. They will be in opposition camps on Sunday. Picture by Nigel Duncan

But at 4pm on Sunday at Peffermill on Sunday the quicksilver player with superb skills has her eyes set on silverware.

The statistics are in her team’s favour. During the domestic league season, Watsonians beat the students twice, 3-0 and 4-2.

The latest clash was a 2-2 draw but Jamieson that game came on the Sunday after winning the league on the Thursday night. Jamieson admits it was a hard one to get up for.

That is not the case on Sunday with silverware at stake. Jamieson’s sporting hero is Luciana Aymar – a now retired Argentine field hockey player who is the only player in history to win the FIH Player of the Year Award on eight occasions – and she is a winner herself.

Jamieson started her hockey career started with Edinburgh club Inverleith, where she was voted player of the decade, and progressed rapidly upwards to becoming the first Inverleith ladies player to represent Scotland at a Commonwealth Games. The Tartan Hearts finished seventh in Australia in 2018.

She also played a season in the German Bundesliga but homing in on Sunday's cup clash, the former Portobello High School pupil confirmed: “I played for Grove for six years when I was at university and I've played in several cup finals but never won the competition.”

That was a surprise as she was in the team which won the championship in 2016 and won the EuroHokckey club champions challenge, Division Two, with the famous Tayside team.

Now, it would be good to win the league and the cup in the same season, but the students carry a real threat and Jamieson said: "They are particularly strong at corners with Amy Costello and it is up to us not to give them opportunities.

"There are several other Scotland squad players in the university team and they are going into Europe after the cup final so every game they play now is important to them. Hopefully, it will be an exciting game for the crowd."

The highly-rated player added: "There are no secrets between the clubs at this point. It's about what happens on the day."

Watsonians captain Bethan Mann added: “It would be huge for is to take home the Scottish Cup. We’ve already made club history by making it to the final, so winning it would be an amazing achievement.”