Scots find positives to take from testing international weekend

 


Scotland completed a testing weekend with a  5-1 defeat at the
hands of  the current European Champions England at Inverclyde
on Monday afternoon despite giving a good account of
themselves.

The first twenty minutes of the match was very evenly balanced with
few chances being created and the Scottish defence under no real
threat. Indeed it  was Scotland who opened the scoring from
their first short corner when a Derek Salmond low drag flick eluded
the English keeper.

The turning point of the half came when Scotland keeper Phil Carr
conceded a penalty stroke, in the thirty first minute, after taking
out an English forward and was rightly green carded.  Willie
Marshall took his place between the sticks, with no keeper’s kit
apart from a helmet, and was given absolutely no chance by Iain
Lewers.

Within thirty seconds England took further advantage of the
keeper’s sin binning  when Rob Moore rolled the ball into the
empty net to give the visitors the lead. Then just before half time
,even with Carr restored, James Tindall added a third to give
England a somewhat flattering interval lead.

England controlled most of the second half enjoying the majority of
possession while Scotland continued to show great determination.
However  midway through the half Nick Catlin sent a fierce low
shot into the Scottish net and with five minutes remaining Catlin
scored his second converting a set piece to leave England
comfortable winners.

Coach Russell Garcia will no doubt look back on the closing stages
of the first half which left his side facing an uphill battle after
all the good work of the first thirty minutes when the sides were
so evenly matched.

Garcia knew  the high calibre of opposition invited to
Inverclyde this weekend but saw this rightly as perfect preparation
for the important forthcoming challenges of the summer.

Team manager Eugene Connolly was in total agreement and remarked
“These sides have given us a measure of what we have to do to
aspire to their level. Our opponents in the Champions Challenge and
European Nations Trophy are not in the same league as this
weekend’s teams.”

Scotland completed a testing weekend with a 5-1 defeat
at the hands of  the current European Champions England at
Inverclyde on Monday afternoon despite giving a good account of
themselves.

The first twenty minutes of the match was very evenly balanced
with few chances being created and the Scottish defence under no
real threat. Indeed, it was Scotland who opened the scoring from
their first short corner when a Derek Salmond low drag flick eluded
the English keeper.

The turning point of the half came when Scotland keeper Phil
Carr conceded a penalty stroke in the thirty-first minute, after
taking out an English forward and was green carded.  Willie
Marshall took his place between the sticks, with no keeper’s kit
apart from a helmet, and was given absolutely no chance by Iain
Lewers.

Within thirty seconds England took further advantage of the
keeper’s sin binning when Rob Moore rolled the ball into the
empty net to give the visitors the lead. Then just before half
time, with Carr restored, James Tindall added a third to give
England a somewhat flattering interval lead.

England controlled most of the second half enjoying the majority
of possession while Scotland continued to show great determination.
However, midway through the half Nick Catlin sent a fierce low shot
into the Scottish net and with five minutes remaining Catlin scored
his second converting a set piece to leave England comfortable
winners.

Coach Russell Garcia will no doubt look back on the closing
stages of the first half which left his side facing an uphill
battle after all the good work of the first thirty minutes when the
sides were so evenly matched. Garcia knew  the high
calibre of opposition invited to Inverclyde this weekend but saw
this rightly as perfect preparation for the important forthcoming
challenges of the summer.

Team manager Eugene Connolly was in total agreement and remarked
“These sides have given us a measure of what we have to do to
aspire to their level. Our opponents in the Champions Challenge and
European Nations Trophy are not in the same league as this
weekend’s teams.”

In the other match, Spain drew 1-1 with Germany to top the group
of four teams.

 

 

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