Excellent development trip to play Wales for Scotland Women’s EDP

As part of their build-up for the forthcoming European Championships Scotland’s Women’s Elite Development Programme (EDP) squad travelled to Durham for a 3-match series against the Welsh U23 Squad.

In the opening game of the series Scotland opened strongly taking a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. The first goal came in the 8th minute when Lucy Williamson reacted quickly after her initial strike at a penalty corner was blocked, by latching on to the rebound, shifting the ball to her left, and firing a reverse edge shot into the bottom right corner. It was another penalty corner that led to the second goal. This time a well worked option saw a Lucy Smith deflection being tipped-in at the far post by Ellie Mackenzie.

Scotland continued to dominate and 2-0 became 3-0 in the 31st minute when the Scottish Captain, Jika Nyirenda, took a quick free hit inside the attacking 23 and skipped between 3 defenders before slipping the ball past the on-rushing Welsh goal-keeper.

Photo by David McCarthy

It took until the 65th minute before Wales managed to get on to the scoresheet. A cross-field ball was not dealt with and this allowed the Welsh time and space to deliver into the circle for a simple tap-in at the far post. This goal galvanised the Welsh who then had a period of more enterprising play and 8 minutes later they were rewarded for that enterprise with a second goal direct from a Penalty corner.

At that stage it seemed that they might press on and further dampen Scottish hopes, but 4 minutes later Lucy Smith combined with Jen Tait to dispossess the Welsh inside their own 23 and provide Ellie Rutherford with a shooting chance from the top circle which she took in style, finishing with a powerful reverse edge shot into the side netting.

That fourth goal allowed Scotland to play out the final minutes in relative comfort for a 4-2 victory.

The next day saw the Welsh come out with a bit more intensity and purpose. The opening quarter was relatively even but a mistake by the Welsh keeper allowed Abbie Grant to slide in and force the ball over the line for the opening goal. Scotland reached half-time with their 1 goal lead intact, but the second half saw the Welsh apply significant pressure with a high pressing game that Scotland struggled to cope with. The pressure told 10 minutes into the 3rd quarter when a cross from the left was deflected past Jess Buchanan in the Scottish goal by an unmarked attacker. To their credit Scotland managed to reply just one minute later as Jessica Barr found Jika Nyirenda in the circle and she scored with a snap-shot that took the Welsh keeper by surprise.

Photo by David McCarthy

The Welsh high-pressing game was to earn them the win however, as constant territorial advantage and poor Scottish marking took their toll.

The equaliser came in the final quarter from a re-awarded penalty corner and a direct strike to Emma O’Neill’s bottom right. This was followed just a few minutes from the end of the game with a scrambled goal after a Welsh forward was allowed to collect a pass from a free hit inside the Scots 23 and carry un-challenged into the circle.

While the result was disappointing, the Scottish side were able to reflect on the problems that the Welsh high press had given them and learn some valuable lessons.

They came out for the final game of the 3-match series determined to do better and finished with a much-improved performance. While not perfect, the marking was much tighter and territorially Scotland had the advantage. From a spectator point of view the game largely lacked goal-mouth incident and finished goal-less.

Scotland’s head coach, Neil Menzies, was largely satisfied with the performances over the 3 days. He pointed out that this was the first time that many of the group had played at this level, and that they has coped well with what for most were new formations and strategies. He was also very complimentary on the contribution of senior internationalist, Kerry-Anne Hasting who assisted with the coaching over the three days.

Next for the EDP girls are a couple of days of training and practice, followed by a 3-match series against Ireland in Belfast from the 11th to 13th of June.

Photo by David McCarthy

Recent posts:

Back to all news
Back to top