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Media Releases
2007

08 May
2007

Shepherd and Wedderburn cup glory

Kelburne out to retain showpiece trophy and claim double.

It will certainly be a case of brothers in arms if Grange get into dire straits and Kelburne retain the Shepherd and Wedderburn Scottish Cup at the National Hockey Academy in Peffermill on Saturday (12 May).

The Paisley side will have two sets of brothers in their squad for the showpiece event in Edinburgh this weekend.

And Jonathon and Michael Christie and Niall and Ross Stott will be hoping all their team-mates see double on Saturday night as Kelburne aim to add the Cup to the league title.

Derek Forsyth’s side are hot favourites to secure back-to-back doubles. They are unbeaten so far this season but head coach Forsyth has warned his men not to take the challenge of Edinburgh side Grange lightly.

Forsyth said: “It’s a one-off game so anything is possible but we are certainly focused on retaining the trophy and sealing the double.

“Our aim this season has been to be the first Kelburne side to go unbeaten in all domestic competitions. We had a perfect record in the league and if we win the cup on Saturday the European play-offs will be the final hurdle to us achieving that goal.”

However, Forsyth feels fatigue could put a spanner in the works. Twelve of his squad have been in the two Scotland sides involved in the Great Britain Super Sixes over the past three weeks.

He added: “The majority of my squad have been involved in this series and it has involved a lot of travelling around the UK, so some of the guys are very tired. But there is nothing like a Cup Final to focus the mind.”

Grange head coach Mike Gilbert, meanwhile, will be hoping to spoil his former side’s party and claim his third cup winners’ medal.

Gilbert, who has twice before coached Kelburne, is sure his underdogs can cause an upset and allow him to add another cup gong to the two he won as a player.

It will be the Edinburgh side’s first appearance in a final for more than a decade and they will be hoping their influential captain Andy McBride can shake off a knee and ankle injury to face Kelburne.

Gilbert said: “Our squad has suffered from injuries all season but we are hopeful Andy will recover in time to play in the final.

“If we did manage to upset the odds and beat Kelburne it would certainly be an excellent achievement for us.

“I think it is fair to say that Kelburne are by far the best club team in Scotland at the moment, but we ran them close earlier in the season, so there is no reason why we can’t build on that result and beat them in the final.

“It would certainly be a sweet feeling to win the competition as it would be my first cup success in management against a team I used to coach.”

In the Shepherd and Wedderburn ladies Cup Final, Giffnock will battle it out with Glasgow neighbours En-Croute Western for silverware on the same day.

The Shepherd and Wedderburn plate finals see Uddingston face Edinburgh HC and GHK ladies play En-Croute Western A ladies.


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