Big County hockey stars perform well in Ayr

Sep 3 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTHSHIRE'S Men’s hockey team kicked-off the season in style at the Ayr Hockey tournament, held over the weekend of August 28 and 29.

The tournament was well supported, with 12 men’s teams competing in two 'round robin' leagues.

It was unfortunate that the ladies competition had to be cancelled as only three teams entered the competition.

The tournament started a little wobbly for the Perthshire side, with a 1–0 defeat against East Kilbride, but this was soon overcome with a 3–0 win in the next game, against Hillhead.

The best score of the tournament was a 9–0 thrashing that the team gave to 'Ayr II'.

The Perthshire team fought well with some great play making by Michael Robertson, Craig Loudon, Stuart Farmer and Ali Graham to name but a few.

There was great support from both the first and second team players for the tournament with 15 players making the trip to the south west.

The weather was fantastic for the teams with only a couple of light showers, which added to the great spirit of the tournament.

Perthshire eventually came second to the Monklands team in a hard fought 3–2 final, which they were unfortunate to lose, with the loss of one player in the match due to injury. The team is looking forward to returning next year for another crack at the silverware.

The annual Bell Trophy for the women’s teams will take place next Saturday with Perthshire hosting this year at the new Kilgraston pitch.

The event is normally an all-day affair but captains will be in contact with more details in due course.

A fixtures meeting is due to take place in the Glen Pub, Edinburgh Road, on Tuesday from 6.30–7.30pm.All captains, match secretaries and umpires are asked to attend so decisions can be made pre-season as to who will be umpiring what games.

Robin will be presenting a craft night immediately after the fixtures meeting to introduce everyone to the new rules for the season. All players are asked to attend this meeting so there is full understanding of the rules in all teams.

The club would also like to wish Anna Gourlay and Kerri Targett good luck this weekend as they travel to Newcastle for the UK School Games.