By Rich Spackman
Congratulations to Men’s 1s’ captain Rob Field who last week captained Scotland to victory in the inaugural FIH Nations Cup 2 tournament in Muscat, Oman to gain promotion to the FIH Nations Cup for 2026.
Field led the team to a 4-2 win over Egypt in the final. Two goals from Surbiton’s Struan Walker and a goal apiece from Jamie Golden and Tommy Austin confirmed the deserved win for the Blue Sticks, who will now play in the next Nations Cup.
The Egyptian side started strongly and brought an early double save from Calum Douglas but it was Great Britain man and player of the match Walker who opened the scoring following a great run from Ali Richmond.
Jamie Golden increased the Scottish advantage with a drag flick before Walker added his second from a well worked penalty corner routine to make the score 3-0 at half time.
In the third quarter, Scotland increased their lead to four after Tommy Austin scored his first goal for his country.
In the final quarter, Egypt showed their quality and scored two goals. The first from a penalty corner and the second from a penalty flick.
Egypt threw everything at the Scottish goal and Douglas made numerous saves.
Scotland survived this final quarter onslaught to finish the game 4-2 winners.
Struan Walker, after receiving the player of the match award, remarked: “The boys are absolutely on fire at the moment and that was a brilliant performance from some really talented players that we have in our side. A very deserving victory for us in the end I think.”
Field’s Scottish team successful campaign began against host Oman on Monday, 17 February with a convincing 10-1 victory; before suffering a narrow 3-2 defeat to Austria on Tuesday, 18 February.
They concluded their pool stage with a 3-2 victory over the United States on Thursday, 20 February.
Field’s Scottish team moved into the knockout stages where they faced Poland in the semi-finals; Field’s Scottish team won 4-1 with all five goals coming in the last quarter.
We wish Rob and his Scottish teammates huge congratulations on this remarkable achievement.
Image: FIH