Hockey: Scotland claim the honours

SCOTLAND beat England 3-1 yesterday to win the women's Home Countries Championship - a fine start to their preparations for the Inter-Continental Cup in Philadelphia this summer, writes Bill Colwill from Cardiff.

Sue MacDonald hit two early goals for the Scots, who added a third through Rhona Simpson after Sally Gibson had scored her first international goal for England, who finished third.

Ireland took second place by beating Wales 4-0, with Sarah Kelleher scoring a hat-trick.

ENGLAND: J Thompson (Ipswich); S Brimble (Clifton); L Bayliss (First Personnel Sutton Coldfield), C Cook (Hightown), F Lee (Hightown); M Davies (First Personnel Sutton Coldfield), S Wright (Slough), A Swindlehurst (Clifton); M Nicholls (Ealing), J Smith (Chelmsford), C Cullen (Hightown). Substitutes used: J Green (Chelmsford), S Gibson (Trojans), L Youngs (Ipswich).

SCOTLAND: T Robb (Glasgow Western); G Messenger (Edinburgh Ladies); S Fraser (Glasgow Western), D Renilson (Edinburgh), M Coutts (Glasgow Western); P Robertson (Edinburgh), W Fraser (Glasgow Western), A Ramsay (Glasgow Western), A Menzies (Glasgow Western); S MacDonald (Glasgow Western), R Simpson (Heriot Watt). Substitutes used: S Lawrie (Ealing), M Barbour (Glasgow Western), C Corcoran (Edinburgh), C Howard (Edinburgh), E Murray (Glasgow Western).

Umpires: E Rutten (Neth), C Green (Wales).