Scots settle for bronze medal match after French defeat
A series of momentary lapses proved costly as Scotland went down
5-3 to France in the semi-final of the Champions Challenge in Lille
and will now play either Ireland or Russia tomorrow for the bronze
medal.
It started well enough when Fergus Dunn nudged home a cross from
the right to put the Scots ahead, and the French were clearly
rattled. But then followed a nightmare two minutes before the
interval, with the French down to ten men, the Scots defence failed
to deal with a high ball and Olivier Sanchez stole in to equalise.
Seconds later the French won a penalty corner and Fabien
Magner put his side 2-1 up with a straight drag flick.
Bizarrely, with Scotland`s Gareth Hall and Willie Marshall both in
the sin bin, Dan Coultas equalised with a penalty corner rocket
that went in off the crossbar. The French retaliated
immediately and scored three times through Magner again, Lucas
Sevestre and Jean-Baptiste Pauchet, and the game looked well lost.
In between the French goals Iain Scholefield had a
dangerous run but his pass was intercepted before Hall had the
chance to score. Kenny Bain then had a golden opportunity to
pull one back midway through the half, his initial shot was
illegally saved, but his own spot effort was easily stopped by the
French goalkeeper`s boot.
As the Scots continued pressing to get back into the game, Hall had
his diving attempt cleared off the line and then Michael Christie
made it 5-3 with a shot from the right edge of the circle – but too
little too late by then.
“The French were there for the taking, but we didn`t quite get
there on the day. We paid dearly for times of indiscipline
and momentary lapses. In many respects the turning point was
just before half-time, we should have turned round one up, instead
we were one down,” said Eugene Connolly, Scotland`s manager.
Scotland went down 5-3 to France in the semi-final of
the Champions Challenge in Lille and will now play either Ireland
or Russia tomorrow for the bronze medal.
It started well enough when Fergus Dunn nudged home a cross from
the right to put the Scots ahead, and the French were clearly
rattled. However, two minutes before the interval, and the
French down to ten men, a high ball saw Olivier Sanchez steal in to
equalise. Seconds later, the French won a penalty corner and
Fabien Magner put his side 2-1 up with a straight drag flick.
Bizarrely, with Scotland`s Gareth Hall and Willie Marshall both
in the sin bin, Dan Coultas equalised with a penalty corner rocket
that went in off the crossbar. The French retaliated
immediately and scored three times through Magner again, Lucas
Sevestre and Jean-Baptiste Pauchet, and the game looked well
lost.
In between the French goals Iain Scholefield had a dangerous run
but his pass was intercepted before Hall had the chance to score.
Kenny Bain then had a golden opportunity to pull one back
midway through the half, his initial shot was illegally saved, but
his own spot effort was stopped by the French goalkeeper`s
boot.
As the Scots continued pressing to get back into the game, Hall
had his diving attempt cleared off the line and then Michael
Christie made it 5-3 with a shot from the right edge of the
circle.
“The French were there for the taking, but we didn`t quite get
there on the day. We paid dearly for times of indiscipline
and momentary lapses. In many respects the turning point was
just before half-time, we should have turned round one up, instead
we were one down,” said Eugene Connolly, Scotland`s manager
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