Cairns set for Indoor trophy in Poland

Jan 15 2010 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

ONE of Kelburne Hockey Club’s top indoor stars will be aiming to make an impact for the Scotland team when the national side get their men’s EuroHockey Nations Indoor Trophy campaign underway this morning in Poznan, Poland.

Josh Cairns has been drafted into the Scotland team that will be looking for a positive start when they push back their tournament against the host nation at 11.30am local time this morning.

Scotland are in Pool B of the competition and must face Poland, Sweden and the Slovak Republic.

And a win this morning against the Poles would set the Scots up nicely for their second match of the tournament, which is against Sweden at 2.45pm this afternoon.

Sadly for Josh, his Kelburne team-mates David and Allan Forsyth won’t be making the trip to the tournament as the duo have been ruled out of coach Russell Garcia’s squad through injury.

Tomorrow, Scotland will play the Slovak Republic at 10.50am local time.

Later tomorrow afternoon Scotland is expected to play their crossover matches as they seek a gold medal and promotion to Pool A of the tournament next year.

Pool A opponents this year includes Switzerland, Belarus, Portugal and England.

The Scots head into the Trophy after racking up two impressive wins over Wales, boasting score lines of 8-3 and 5-1, earlier this month in Perth.

It’s hoped that Cairns can make a telling contribution in front of goal after scoring 21 for his club so far this season, making him the top goalscorer at ’Burne.