Great Britain Men opened their Setanta Trophy campaign with a disappointing 1-0 defeat against a defensive Canada side in Dublin.

After a goalless first half, Canada’s Peter Short was on hand to tap the ball into the back of the net just after the restart when Britain lost the ball deep in the opposition half.

Scotland captain Graham Moodie and Kelburne’s Mark Ralph and Niall Stott all started for GB, while Inverleith’s Stephen Dick came off the bench.  Goalkeeper Alistair McGregor, the other Scot in the squad, did not play.

Britain had the better possession and had chances to score throughout, but the Canadian keeper constantly denied the Brits with a string of spectacular saves which made him “unquestionably the man of the match” according to manager Pete Nicholson.

Britain had six penalty corners throughout the game to Canada’s three, but could not make any of them count.

Nicholson said “We are obviously disappointed with the result, but Canada are a very difficult team to play against as they are very defensive and play very deep.  We made good opportunities for ourselves throughout the game, but their ‘keeper was in phenomenal form”.

GB women, meanwhile, lost 2-1 to Olympic champions Germany.  Glasgow Western’s Laura Bartlett, the only Scot in the squad, came off the bench to play a part in the second half.