Scotland U18 Girls’ get off to a winning start in Rakovnik

Scotland U18 Girls’ got their EuroHockey Championship II campaign off to a sensational start with a 4-0 win over Wales in Rakovnik, Czech Republic.

It was a lightning start to the contest by Scotland and it saw them take an early lead through Georgia Jones – the Scots profited from a turnover high up the pitch and Jones took the ball past the goalkeeper to score.

Scotland bossed the early stages and enjoyed lots of possession. They had a good chance to double their advantage when they were awarded a penalty corner – Millie Skidmore struck it low and wide of the right post.

Some good play by Lexi Sabatelli on the left created a near post chance but the resulting deflection went just wide of the target.

It was a composed opening quarter with Scotland taking control of possession and looking dangerous throughout.

Wales came out in attack in the second quarter and had Scotland pegged back in their own D. This pressure was broken when a pass from defence to Lorna Crawford saw her produce a great turn and break which saw Jones unlucky not to score a second.

Then in the same attack Scotland pressurised the Wales defence as they tried to escape with the ball. The ball found its way to Sabatelli who coolly slotted the ball low into the goal to make it 2-0 to Scotland.

Into the second half in Rakovnik and Rachel Bain nearly connected with a pass into the D but it went wide as Scotland continued to attack.

Then Crawford again produced a great turn and pass to send Scotland forward, the ball eventually found Ruth Blaikie who won a penalty corner. The penalty corner saw a deflection by Jennifer Walls to send the ball into the roof of the net to make it 3-0 for Scotland U18 Girls’.

The fourth goal came soon after; the Wales goalkeeper slid out to block a shot and the ball fell nicely for Walls who slammed it low against the backboard to make it 4-0 at the end of Q3 – her second goal of the match.

In the final quarter the Welsh battled hard to get onto the scoresheet as Scotland soaked up their pressure.

On the break, Bain again came close when she dived to connect with a turn and pass to the far post but the ball eluded her.

In the end it was an excellent victory for the Scots in Rakovnik who go into the match against Russia tomorrow with the confidence of a solid win under their belts.

Scotland U18 Girls’ Head Coach Keith Smith said, “I’m delighted with the work rate and mind-set of the players – it was a nice and controlled performance. We asked them to set a high tempo and drive the pace of the game from the start and the players did exactly what we asked of them. We were pretty comfortable and with a little bit more composure we could have had more goals.

“It’s a really good first game and a good marker for the tournament. If we perform like we did today, and can add a little bit more quality, then we can go into any game with confidence and fear no one. We’ll improve as the tournament progresses and we’ve set a really good starting point for that improvement.”

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