A tough day for Scotland in Nicosia

It was a tough day for Scotland at men’s Indoor EuroHockey Championship III in Nicosia. Defeats to Slovakia and Belarus leaves Scotland in third place four points behind Slovakia, and six points behind Belarus.

Scotland has won two matches, lost two, and face Slovenia and Wales tomorrow as the tournament reaches its climax.

 

Scotland 4-5 Slovakia

A close and exciting game went in Slovakia’s favour as Scotland fell to their first defeat at Men’s Indoor EuroHockey Championship III in Nicosia.

It was Slovakia who took the early lead with a strike by Romanec Tomas from a penalty corner in two minutes.

Slovakia doubled their lead on nine minutes when Zdenko Kovacevic struck to put some light between the teams.

The Scots struck back a couple of minutes later and it was the free-scoring Patch Christie who was on target to pull the score back to 2-1.

Just as the Scots thought they were going into half time a goal shy of their opponents, Slovakia made it 3-1. Right before the half time whistle Matej Jelacic was on target to give his team the advantage.

Scotland came out strong in the second half and Josh Cairns finished off a penalty corner on 26 minutes to make it 3-2 to Slovakia.

Ten minutes later and Christie bagged his second of the match to equalise for the Scots.

A late flurry of goals saw the game go in Slovakia’s favour. Romanec scored his second of the match then in the last minute Kovacevic completed his double for Slovakia. Cairns struck for Scotland right at the death but there was not enough time for Scotland to find an equaliser, and Slovakia took the points.

Head Coach Stuart Neave said, “We’re disappointed with the result. During the first ten minutes we gave them a two-goal lead through a couple of errors and we had to work our way back into the game. There were a lot of cards in the game, which were debatable, so we had to play a lot of the match a man down.

“It’s still in our own hands and it certainly makes tonight’s match more interesting.”

 

Scotland 1-3 Belarus

Scotland’s second game of the day was a tough game against Belarus, and it was the Belarussians who took the spoils. It was a match Scotland wanted to win as a defeat left the Scots in third place four points shy of Slovakia, and six points behind Belarus at the top of the table.

It was a very tight first half regardless of Belarus taking an early lead in Nicosia. Uladzislau Belavusau opened the scoring in the first minute of the match with a strike from open play. It was not the start Scotland had hoped for.

On the 18th minute Scotland equalised and it was Gordon Amour who provided the finish.

Soon after the equaliser a yellow card was awarded to Josh Cairns but Scotland was resolute and Belarus couldn’t take advantage of the extra man.

The second half got underway and continued to be a close and tense affair.

There was a second half yellow card for Ivan Kisialevich of Belarus but Scotland could not take advantage. The teams remained at stalemate as the contest roared on.

Eventually it was Belarus who struck next and Ivan Lutsevich was the scorer from a penalty corner with three minutes remaining.

The goal prompted Scotland to go to a kicking back in search of a much needed equaliser in the closing stages.

Belarus took a timeout with a minute remaining under waves of Scottish attacks, and just after the restart it was the Belarussians who put the game to bed when Uladzislau struck to make the game 3-1.

 

Fixtures

12 Jan 2018

11:10 (09:10) – Cyprus 1-13 Scotland

18:10 (14:10) – Greece 0-14 Scotland

 

13 Jan 2018

10:00 (8:00) – Scotland 4-5 Slovakia

17:00 (13:00) – Scotland 1-3 Belarus

 

14 Jan 2018

08:00 (06:00) – Scotland v Slovenia

12:40 (10:40) – Scotland v Wales

Interested in learning more about our Scotland international programme? Click HERE.

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