EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy from Porto (Portugal)  –  Day 1

Day 1 in Porto was a mixed experienced for Watsonians women, in the morning they comfortably beat Italian champions Milano 4-0 but in the afternoon went down 6-1 to English side East Grinstead.

So where does that leave the Scottish champions? The bottom line is they have to beat Croatia`s Mladost on Saturday morning to have any chance of qualifying for the promotion pool and hope that the other results don`t go against them.      But that is always the case in a four team pool.

WATSONIANS  4  MILANO HOCKEY PRATO (ITALY)  0

In a cut-throat four team pool competition it is psychologically important to win the opening game, and Watsonians did just that with a well-earned 4-0 win over Italian champions Milano Hockey Prato.

Asked about his thoughts on the game Watsonians` coach Keith Smith reflected.   “Yeah, it was a decent performance – some really good aspects, and some things we`ll try to work on in future games.  We controlled the game for the majority of the match, and by and large made good decisions, but we can still have more control and be more patient.   But always good to win the opener.”

But the Scots had to be satisfied with second spot in the table as English side East Grinstead thumped Croatians HAHK Mladost 8-2 and therefore have a superior goal difference.   Keith Smith will certainly have to counter the threat of Biba Mills who scored seven of East Grinstead eight goals.

After a goalless opening it was left to Emily Dark to open the scoring at Watsonians` second penalty corner.

The contest was effectively won inside three minutes in the second quarter, firstly Ailsa Small doubled Watsonians tally from open play and that was quickly followed by another set piece conversion from Genevieve Hussell for a 3-0 half-time score.    A good first half for the Scottish champions, three goals and the same number of penalty corners without reply from the Italians.

Right at the end of the third quarter Ailsa Small scored her own second of the game to enhance Watsonians` superiority.  In the final quarter Milano had the chance to pull the score back but missed from the spot and their only penalty corner – and so the Scots kept a clean sheet.

 

WATSONIANS  1  EAST GRINSTEAD (ENGLAND) 6

It looked promising when the first quarter finished goalless but in twelve minutes Lauren Workman put East Grinstead ahead.

Two minutes later teenager Jess Garden levelled for the Scottish champions but the parity failed to reach half-time as Summer Knight-Thompson and then Chloe Brown at a penalty corner gave the English a 3-1 advantage.

Brown put the tin lid on the contest with another set piece strike in the third quarter for a commanding 4-1 lead.   In 34 minutes East Grinstead piled in another couple of goals through Rosemary Hope and Brown again for her hat-trick…and the game was over.  In the closing minutes Watsonians replace their keeper with an additional outfield player but no further goals ensued.

Coach Keith Smith had this to say on the match.   “The game was frustrating for us – the scoreline didn`t reflect how competitive the game was.  The first half was very tight and both sides had good chances, however we unfortunately conceded twice from exactly the same situation we wanted to avoid.

“As we chased the game in the second half it got pretty broken which played into their hands, and they picked us off with a couple of quick counters.  We need to learn from it, and to have more belief in our ability to punish the opponents when we force them into mistakes.”

And so it now hinges on tomorrow`s game against Mladost.

 

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