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Sunday 24th July |
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The game against Scotland took its toll with both Josh Smith and Ollie
Cooper ruled out for the final game through injury. Josh Smith with
a dislocated knee and Wales top scorer, Ollie Cooper, with a sprained
ankle. |
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| Wales opened strongly putting the French under tremendous pressure and this lively opening was met with strong French defence and ultimately the first of five yellow cards for France. Despite this the Welsh could not capitalise and progressively the French pushed forward. Mathew Ruxton picked up Wales only yellow card after 17 minutes levelling the two teams. An immediate French attack saw Wales concede as Matthieu Gouedard got on the score sheet |  Ben Rogers deterrmination shows |
Wales upped their game and less than ten minutes later Graham Egan did likewise and at half time the teams were level. Wales started the second as they did the first and the resultant short corner gave Paul Edwards the opportunity to score his first goal of the weekend. He did not disappoint and Wales were in a Celtic Cup winning position. A minute later France went down to ten men but they still put Wales under pressure, gaining a short corner. A perfectly organised routine gave them their second goal and now the lead in the tournament. |
 Andy Cornick taken down in the D |
Wales pushed forward to try and regain the lead but the French did not relent and gained another short corner which again found the net. The last fifteen minutes saw three more yellow cards for the French and at one point they were down to just nine men. Wales piled on the pressure but could not finish and the reduced squad numbers was now telling. The Welsh stepped up in the last few minutes to try and level the game only to see Matthieu Gouedard get his second goal of the tournament giving France a 4 - 2 victory at the end of a very physical game. |
 Graham Egan wins out |
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The Scotland Ireland game followed and subsequently the Scots took victory 3 - 0 giving the Welsh a deserved second place in the Cup. For the men the tournament saw them victorious over a second European 'A' division side inside two weeks. At the end of the event manager Andy Bevan was very positive saying "I am very pleased with the guys who have played their best hockey in some time. We play better hockey against ball-playing teams and we are all looking forward to the European Nations in a few weeks time". |
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All photography by Magic Moments
