It was one game too far on Saturday as Wales went down 9-0 to Scotland in the final of the Junior Euro Trophy in Vienna. After the emotion and heroics of the previous day, Wales could not sustain an excellent first 20 minutes as Scotland showed their class to score 6 goals in the second half to add to their 3 quick goals between 20 and 35 minutes in the first.
However, Wales picked up a silver medal and Adam Williams was awarded goalkeeper of the tournament in the closing ceremony and nothing can take away from the achievement of this group of players in winning promotion to the Championship 1 division in 2012. There was guts, desire and skill backed up by tactics provided by the excellent coaching team led by Phil Gooderham. Players knew what they were expected to do and, crucially, acted on this advice each game which led to the come back victory against Austria. The leadership on the pitch was provided by Nick Rees who as captain led by example while the senior internationals in Carless, Dolan-Gray, Prosser and Lloyd-Penny provided excellent support to the younger players. Other players to shine were Max Stern who literally ran until he dropped while Gareth Furlong was not fazed by any situation or opponent. Adam Williams in goal fought off the strong challenge of last year's U18 keeper Andy Hughes to make the number 1 shirt his own with a string of fine performances. However, all the squad contributed even those who did not play every game who willingly performed the 17th/18th man duties.
The scenes on Friday at sometime close to 4.30pm when the final whistle went will live long in everyone's memories and now it is up to the WHU to ensure that the players are properly prepared for 2012 as part of the ongoing development of the national teams. Higher profile national teams will lead to a greater media awareness and hopefully more people getting involved with hockey.
