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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