Women finish third whilst the men struggle against SA

A mix day for the senior Scotland sides today as the men finished an overall fourth after losing to South Africa 3-0 followed by a Scotland win over Wales of 3-2 for the women finishing third in the final day in the Investec London Cup.


The senior women started the game confident of a result after beating Wales earlier in the tournament 6-0. After ten minutes of pressing the Welsh Nikki Lloyd tapped in a Vikki Bunce ball to take the lead 1-0. Scotland had a goal disallowed after the ball was not pulled fully out of the circle but that spurred the Scots on and with five minutes to go before half time Bunce found herself unmarked and smashed the ball in the back on the net to finish 2-0 at half time.

Wales came out the second half with no fear but Scotland were too strong and after multiple shots in the circle Ali Bell gets on the score sheet with a diving reverse hit to take the lead to 3-0. From nowhere Phoebe Richards gets Wales back on the score sheet, after a great a diving hit to the far to corner of the goal nothing Gibson could do. This spurred Wales on and play became end to end and with second to go awarded a penalty corner only for Batton to put away to finish 3-2.

Birthday girl Amy Gibson was awarded very much deservedly goal keeper of the tournament.

Investec v WAL

(Nikki Skrastin agianst Wales. Photo by Ady Kerry)

Emily Maguire was disappointed with the result but was pleased with how the women have performed in previous matches.

‘It’s always great to finish with a win. Wales have been improving each game in the tournament so to be honest we were happy we won. We’re not delighted with the performance but we’re keeping a few things back for the Commonwealth Games which can be hard to adapt to. We’ll be coming out hard next time. We have a few things up our sleeves we didn’t want to show them yet given we play the same opponents very soon. We want to keep on building for the Commonwealth Games and make sure all our presses and corners are as good as they can be.’

 

The senior men were unfortunate not to outperform South Africa this morning losing 3-0 to the 11th ranked side.

Scotland attack straight from the whistle with a great ball put across goal from Kenny Bain however South Africa were soon on the counter forcing Gavin Sommerville to make some great saves. The Scottish defence worked hard to deny any South African opportunity in the circle with a great diving clear from Michael Bremner to clear the ball out of danger. Scotland pressed and in the last action of the game were awarded three penalty corners but sadly couldn’t get net a goal.

SA v Investec

(David Forsyth against South Africa. Taken by Ady Kerry)

Second half Scotland came out hungry to break deadlock with a Niall Stott running at the South African defence but the Scots could not finish. South Africa upped the tempo and the Scots began to struggle through tired legs. On the 44th minute Captain Austin Smith put away a drag flick from a penalty corner to take the lead. Scotland were on the back foot but defended well with Chris Nelson clearing the ball from the far post however South Africa kept pushing and extend their lead to 2-0, two minutes later they convert another penalty with Smith getting his second to finish the game 3-0.

Despite the loss today player Willie Marshall knows this tournament has been great development for the mens side.

‘I thought we played ok, we were a bit down on yesterday due to tiredness but overall we’ve made some good steps through this tournament, we’re buzzing and looking forward to CWG.

‘We’re going to have a bit more rest between games at the CWG so we’ll be prepared. We felt good after the last game but we’ve got a bit of tiredness creeping in. It all helps to get us focused for the tournament ahead.

‘We’ve got some games in preparation for the tournament so we’re looking to keep progressing in those and keep sharp for the challenges coming up.’

Head coach Derek Forsyth was frustrated how his team performed today;

‘It was a disappointing performance for the last game as we didn’t reach the level that we have been reaching.

 

 

 

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