SHANDON hockey star Fiona Burnet has been in action for Scotland this week in Northern Ireland as she looks to stake a claim for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games squad.

Head coach Gordon Shepherd named a 19-woman squad, including Clydesdale Western's Burnet, for the three-match series against Ireland.

The sides played out a 1-1 draw in Belfast in the first on Monday with Charlotte Watson netting for Scotland.

Clydesdale Western player Burnet featured in the second game on Tuesday as the Scots were punished by a clinical Irish display in Banbridge.

The hosts won 6-2 after cruising to a 4-0 lead at half-time.

Shepherd admitted his side had been below par in the defeat.

He said: “Ireland deserved to win the match, we had a poor first half and were punished for it.

"The players showed great character in the third quarter to play their way back into the match, and we had chances to score more, but we got picked off on the counter attack a couple of times at the end.

“There’s a lot of young players in the team so this will be a learning experience, and there are definitely positives to take from the character shown by the players in the second half. We know where we need to improve for the next match.”

And the Scots duly obliged, winning the last of their three games 2-1 in Stormont on Wednesday to draw the series overall.