Veryan Pappin was the last goalkeeper from Scotland to represent Great Britain and it is well documented that he was a member of the gold medal-winning squad at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Alistair McGregor is the number one choice here and hopes Britain will book their place in Beijing at the Olympic qualifying tournament here to realise his own ambitions.

The British squad are unbeaten and on top of the table and face Austria in their last fixture tomorrow all but assured of a berth in Sunday's winner-takes-all final.

McGregor, 26, said:" I grew up watching the Olympics and have thought about it since I was young. It was all a dream then but now we're so close it means everything to me."

One of the more experienced members of the squad with 96 combined Scotland and Great Britain appearances, the PE teacher from Aberdeen moved south to play in the English Hockey League two years ago and improve his chances of GB selection. Turning out for Loughborough Students has seen him involved in tougher games every week and sharpen his skills as well as clinch his place.

Since making his senior debut against India in Bangladesh in 2001when Scotland lost 5-1, the national team have gone from strength to strength and are now ranked 22nd in the world. McGregor added:"We've made a lot of in roads in the last four years and with three Scotland players appearing in the 2004 Olympics and a solid development programme, the game is becoming more and more professional. I hope there'll be a spin-off for the Scottish game with Mark Ralph, Stephen Dick and myself in the side here."

With GB poised to meet India in the final, McGregor is confident they will succeed. He said:"Everything has gone as well as we'd hoped but there's still a lot of pressure. I'd be happy with a re-match against India after we beat them 3-2 in the round-robin phase but our aim coming in to the tournament was to get to the final and we'll take what comes."

McGregor can also lay claim to being one of the few international goalkeepers to score a goal. "It was at the World U-21 Cup in Hobart in 2001 and we were in a penalty shoot out against South Africa - but unfortunately we lost 3-2" he said. And would he be lining up to take any penalties in Chile? "You must be joking - I'll leave that to the experts" he laughed.

Meanwhile, Simon Mantell, the Great Britain striker, and two Indian players have been severely reprimanded by the tournament director and warned as to their future conduct following incidents during Britain’s 3-2 victory in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Santiago, Chile.

Mantell was found guilty of using abusive language and gestures and Vickram Kanth and Gurbaz Singh for inappropriate physical contact.

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