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 HOCKEY NEWS

WALES FINISH SEVENTH

By Carl Markham, PA Sport

Wales midfielder and hat-trick hero Simon Organ today told of how the team plan to use their seventh-placed finish at the Commmonwealth Games as a springboard to greater achievements.

They beat Barbados 7-0 this morning in what was a comfortable stroll against the competition's whipping boys who conceded 50 goals in their four games.

Having finished third in a European Nations Cup qualifying tournament a couple of weeks before arriving in Manchester, the Welsh must now go through a round-robin play-off against France and the Czech Republic in Barcelona to secure their participation in next year's event.

And Organ - who took his international goals tally to 62 goals in 64 games - believes that giving players experience in Manchester can only have helped their cause.

"It was good to finish the tournament with a win. We've now got a European Nations qualifying tournament in Barcelona in September," said the Cannock player.

"A lot of the other guys had a chance to play today - which is good."

It took the Welsh just six minutes to expose the frailties in the Barbados defence which allowed Australia to record a Commonwealth Games record 20-1 win in the group stages.

Wales won a penalty corner and set-piece specialist Organ drag-flicked the opening goal, hitting the target again four minutes later by turning in James Westerman's left-wing cross.

In the 41st minute James Westerman set up Wales' converted Englishman Mark Hoskin for the third goal, and seconds later Westerman got himself on the scoresheet.

Organ then completed his hat-trick in the 51st minute and Westerman added his second five minutes from time before being sin-binned, although it made little difference to the closing stages and Cannock defender Paul Edwards - captain for the day - fired in a penalty corner after the hooter.

Organ said the match was tougher than the scoreline suggested.

"They are very quick and very physical. They are very good athletes but we knew we had to finish the tournament properly," added Organ.

"Having started it so well we had a shocker against England (5-0 in the cross-over game) but they are an awkward team to play because they are not predictable at all.

"And in midfield and defence if it is a 50-50 then they certainly take you with the ball."

 
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