Scotland face Ireland in a test series 23-25 November, experience the action live curtousey of Active Stirling who are hosting the weekend's opening of the new Forthbank pitch in Stirling.

Scotland's Men's Coach Mathias Ahrens said: ÔÇ£Ireland will be a tough side, they will come out to win these test matches but I'm confident that we can go out and challenge them.  I believe in our young squad and we'll be looking to beat Ireland on Scottish ground.ÔÇØ

Stirling will stir with hockey action over the weekend with a total of six matches split between Scotland and Ireland's men and women squads, all at Forthbank.  Five of the matches are capped with the men's last game on Sunday labeled friendly.

Ahrens continued: ÔÇ£This will be a good chance for us to see how well some of our U21 players step up and perform in light of our GB players being absent from these test matches.ÔÇØ 

Scottish players Steven Dick (Inverleith), Alistair McGregor (Loughborough), Graham Moodie (Western Wildcats) and Mark Ralph (Kelburne) will away be in arms with GB, clashing sticks at the Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur.

Players called up from the U21s are Yan Adams (Grange), Cammy Fraser (Grange), Chris Grassick (Inverleith), Gordon McIntyre (Kelburne), Gavin Byers (Mezieshill) and Andrew Sinclair (Inverleith).

Jonathan Christie, who has 87 caps going into the test matches, said: ÔÇ£It's the right time to introduce some new players with a few retirements and others being away with GB.   It will be the first time we've played with some of those being pulled up and we're confident our coaches called them up for a reason. Ireland is an organised team so it will be a good chance for us to get some perspective.ÔÇØ

Another new face will be Alan Bryce who makes his debut as Scotland's manager at the test series.  Alan replaces Eugene Connolly who retired in September after the EuroHockey Trophy in Lisbon.

Action hits off Friday evening starting with the women at 18:00 followed by the men at 20:00.  BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound will be taking the second half of the men's match live on air with Katie Still. Ex GB coach and Scottish international Dennis Hay has been asked to co-commentate.  This will be the first time a hockey match has ever been broadcast live on BBC Radio.

Both Friday night matches will boast a Subway Player of the Match in celebration of Scottish Hockey's recent renewed sponsorship deal with the Eat Fresh franchise.

Free entrance to the six matches is part of the package on behalf of Active Stirling, further details on what other exciting activities Active Stirling have up their sleeve for the weekend will be announced soon.

Source: Scottish Hockey Union