SHANDON hockey star Fiona Burnet has been in among the goals as Scotland's women aim for a spot in the A Division at next year's European Championships.
The 25-year-old found the net in Scotland's first two qualification fixtures in Dunkirk - a 4-0 win over Austria on Wednesday and a 2-0 defeat of France a day later.
Burnet was among the scorers in both fixtures, hitting the Scots' third just before half-time against Austria and opening the scoring in the win over France.
The qualification campaign – which concluded against Switzerland on Saturday, after this article was published - came hard on the heels of the Scots' Commonwealth Games campaign in Birmingham, an experience Burnet described as "incredible" despite a frustrating conclusion for the 'Tartan Hearts'.
4 August 2019 at the National Hockey Centre, Glasgow Green. Women's EuroHockey Championship II Pool B match: Scotland v Ukraine
Burnet was one of an 18-strong Scotland squad competing in Birmingham, with half of the players attending their first Games.
With pool games against defending champions New Zealand and 2018 silver medallists Australia, the Scots were tested from the get go.
They started on a high with a 4-2 win against South Africa on day one of the Games, but a frustrating disallowed goal saw them lose 1-0 to New Zealand.
The players picked themselves up for their third pool game, putting eleven past Kenya’s goalkeeper and maintaining a clean sheet.
David P McCarthy
But on their final pool match against Australia, the team fell to a 2-0 defeat which ended their semi-final hopes.
Fiona hopes the side, which recently launched an initiative aiming to help Scotland break into the world top ten, can take confidence from the performances they put in.
She said: “I think it’s super positive. Our first game, we had to win, and we went out and did that.
“In terms of our group games, we put out some amazing performances and the fine margins against teams like New Zealand and Australia shows that we can compete against the best.
26 September 2021 at Auchenhowie. International Women's match - Scotland v Wales
“Things could go differently on another day, so I think we’re taking loads of confidence from that moving forwards – and that’s exciting.”
The Scots ended their journey in Birmingham with a 3-1 defeat to Canada in the fifth place play off.
Fiona added: “It’s a bit bittersweet. It’s hard because we played so well in those group games and we’re all a bit disappointed with how we performed in that last match.
“I don’t know what it was, we were just a bit off the tempo from the get-go and sort of chasing it from the start.
“I think there’s lots of things we can learn from that last match and take forward.”
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