Newcastle Vikings men had an early start on Saturday morning to drive north of the border for the annual Edinburgh International Handball Tournament.
A slow start saw them go down 2-10 in their first group game to London’s Olympia, before then drawing 5-5 in the second game against hosts Edinburgh. However, the Vikings grew into the tournament beating Dublin International 8-6 to advance to the next stage of the competition where they faced Strathclyde-Glasgow University in the quarter-finals.
With the pace of the game getting even quicker in the knockout stages, Newcastle pulled out an early lead thanks in part to the heroics of goalkeeper Daniel Walsh who kept them in the game and helped ensure the Vikings held out for a 6-4 victory over Strathclyde-Glasgow and progress to the next round.
The semi-final saw Newcastle face fellow group team Dublin again. Much like Newcastle, Dublin had also had a slow start to the tournament but grew into it becoming stronger and stronger which in the end was too much for a Vikings side that had the least amount of players in Edinburgh and fatigue began to set in despite putting up a good fight. 5-10 the final score.
The defeat to the Irish side meant that Newcastle would face the hosts Edinburgh for the second time of the day in the 3rd/4th place play-off. The game started off again at a fast pace with Edinburgh taking an early lead before the Vikings managed to pull back some goals. But Edinburgh pulled away for a 12-4 win, leaving Newcastle Vikings to take 4th place in the tournament.
Newcastle Vikings: Daniel Walsh (GK), Holger Schulz, Florencio ‘Kole’ Viejo-Cabellero, Peter Schichtel, Adam Mobberley, Matthew Lamb, Thomas Harrison, Daniel Lel.