Euroluc Supervétérans Tournament
Lille 14-16 March 2014

Scottish Thistles finished in third place, maintaining their good record in the tournament.

Thistles were drawn in Pool A with Eburons Tungri, (Belgium), England LX, and Zestigplussers (Netherlands). Quarter finals will follow against the Pool B teams: 1 v 4, 2 v 3, 3 v 2 and 4 v 1, the winners of these matches going on to play in the semi finals and the losers playing off against the other losers. The semi final winners will play in the final and the losers in a 3rd-4th place match.

Pool B included Alliance, Italians, Supervétérans France and Welsh Dragons.

Apart from Graham Conkie who was forced to withdraw after a family bereavement, the team managed to turn up on schedule and without incident. Team members managed to co-ordinate their travel to make the best of some complicated arrangements. The first evening we spent all together at Crocodile restaurant and bonded over copious quantities of all included red wine. It was very quickly obvious that this team was going to gel!

Friday 14 March

Scottish Thistles 0 England LX 1

Thistles lost 1-0 to the Auld Enemy on a final minute set of short corners. Our goalkeeper, Dick Pearce, got the ball lodged in his kickers and the result was a short corner, followed by five more. Otherwise the game was quite evenly matched, with good chances at either end. If we had played England at a later stage of the competition, the result may well have been different.

Scottish Thistles 2 (Paton 2 -1 pen) Eburons Tungri 0

The second game against the Belgian side was a fairly comfortable win 2-0 with the team having time to settle into a pattern of strength down the right hand side. Glenn Paton scored both goals, the first with a deflected shot and the second from a penalty. The evening was spent at the Hockey club being sociable and having a meal prepared by the club.

Saturday 15 March

Scottish Thistles 2 (Watson 2) Zestigplussers 0

Needing at least a draw to qualify in second place in Pool A, Scottish Thistles, coached by the injured George Finlayson, won 2-0 against their Dutch opponents, thanks to some very good team build ups. Jim Watson was the scorer this time, picking up his first after a short corner and then being on the spot to net after a cross from the right had resulted in a stramash in front of the Dutch keeper. The team is a really good mix of players ranging from a couple of 70+ stalwarts to newbies at the younger end of the age limits.

13:00 1st Pool A v 4th Pool B - Q1

13:40 4th Pool A v 1st Pool B - Q2

Scottish Thistles 3 (Watson 2, Ogilvie) Supérvéterans France 1 - Q3

Apart from Alan Parker who is struggling with a hamstring injury incurred at the AGM weekend, no one else was showing signs of wear and tear, and all are playing with great enthusiasm. Again the Scots won by two clear goals, this time the French managing a counter to limit the score to 3-1. Jim Watson doubled his tally with another brace and Alistair Ogilivie rounded off the scoring with a nice lob over the French keeper. Bizarrely, the pre-arranged draw made Scottish Thistles play England LX again in the semi final, even though it would have been more appropriate for them to have been playing the top side in Pool B.

15:00 3rd Pool A v 2nd Pool B - Q4

16:20 Loser Q1 v Loser Q3 - C1

17:00 Loser Q2 v Loser Q4 - C2

Sunday 16 March

England LX 1 Scottish Thistles 0 - S1

Scottish Thistles went in to this game to avenge their defeat in the first match at the hands of the English. A win would see them into the final with a great chance of lifting the trophy for the first time, second place in 2010 being the best result so far for Thistles in the competition. it was not to be, England LX winning 1-0. The Scots started strongly and forced an early short corner which was just turned round the post from a clean shot by Glenn Paton. The game was fairly evenly balanced with both teams attacking and defending in equal measures. Scottish Thistles had a few chances and were unlucky not to score but the English right winger managed to break through a couple of tackles and into the Scottish D to square the ball to their centre to score the only goal of the game. Scottish Thistles came back at the English and finished strongly but couldn’t convert any of their attacks into goals.

Welsh Dragons 0 Italians1 - S2

11:00 Loser C1 v Loser C2 (places 7 and 8)

11:40 Winner C1 v Winner C2 (places 5 and 6)

Scottish Thistles 1 (Ogilvie) Welsh Dragons 0 (places 3 and 4)

In the play off for 3rd and 4th places, Thistles took the game to the Welsh and dominated the game from start to finish, Ally Ogilvie scoring the only goal of the game from some fine build up work and passing. There were many missed chances for the Scots to win the game more comfortably however the game ended Scottish Thistles 1 Welsh Dragons 0 to secure third place for Thistles.

14:20 England LX v Italians (places 1 and 2)

10:10 A5 v B5 : 10:45 A4 v B4 : 11:20 A3 v B3

Euroluc Supervétérans Tournament Lille 14-16 March 2014