Menzieshill finished a creditable sixth in the WASA indoor international tournament in Copenhagen on Sunday - despite losing their final match 7-5 to the Pennine Pumas - an English outfit bristling with six Olympians.

The Taysiders’ cause was given a pre-match blow when playmaker Ross McPherson, Kris Holmes and reserve goalkeeper Chris Gourlay were confined to bed with a mystery bug, leaving coach Billy McPherson with only nine fit players for the clash with the English.

Despite defeat in the final encounter, manager Bruce Cuthill was upbeat: "This was a very productive tournament in our build-up for the European Club Championships next month. We tried out some new tactics against quality opposition and we learned a lot.

"In particular it gave experience of top-class European indoor hockey to our Aussie import and to youngsters Michael Ross and Max Nabel."

Match report

Despire their eventual loss, the Scots gave the Pumas an early mauling. Chris Anderson opened the scoring when he drew the English goalkeeper, and then spun round to fire the ball into the empty net.

Two minutes later, Chris Wilson dispossessed a defender on the left boards, and his pass was picked up by Michael Ross, who made no mistake for the second.

The Dundonians seemed to have the tie sewn up just before the interval when Kerr Thomson switched the ball back to Andrew Thornton, who fired a low shot home for a three-goal advantage at the break.

A combination of intense English pressure and the onset of tiredness with a reduced squad allowed the Pumas to claw their way back to 3-3 midway through the second half.

And in a ding-dong finale, Thomson restored Menzieshill`s lead with a high volley at a penalty corner, only for the Pumas to restore parity a few minutes later.

Again the Scots retaliated, Chris Wilson taking the goalkeeper out with an astute reverse stick pass and Aussie Tom Green sticking the ball into the empty goal to preserve his record of scoring in every game.

Back came the rampant Pumas with two goals for a 6-5 lead, forcing coach Billy McPherson to risk all by replacing goalkeeper Allan Dick with Thornton as the kicking back.

The extra outfield player almost paid off as Green had a gilt-edged chance to equalise, but with the chance gone the Pumas went up to the other end to seal the 7-5 victory in the dying seconds.