Narrow defeat to Austria for Scotland men in Muscat

Scotland 2-3 Austria

Scotland men were defeated 3-2 by Austria at FIH Nations Cup 2 in Muscat in a game that could have went either way. Jamie Golden struck Scotland’s two goals, and the Blue Sticks now face USA on Thursday.

Scotland edged the early play with a high press seeing them win the ball high up the pitch, or force Austria into long balls that the Scots defence scooped up well.

Scotland looked to take the lead when Struan Walker burst through the Austrian defence and teed up Andy McConnell with just the keeper to beat, but the Jakob Kastner dived low to his left and denied Scotland the lead.

Then one of the Austrian long balls paid off with a great opportunity, and Calum Douglas pulled off an excellent save to his left to bat the ball clear.

Early in the second quarter the first penalty corner of the match went to Scotland. Up stepped Jamie Golden but he launched his drag flick just wide of the left post.

Austria enjoyed a short spell of pressure but Scotland soaked it up and quickly regained control of the game. Then Scotland’s press gave McConnell another chance to break the deadlock; he broke into the circle from the right but the Kastner between the sticks deflected the shot wide with his shoulder to keep Scotland at bay.

With four minutes of the half remaining Scotland got the goal they deserved. A sublime drag flick into the roof of the net via the left post saw Golden put Scotland 1-0 ahead.

It was midway through the third quarter when Austria bagged an equaliser. A goalmouth scramble was finished off from close range by Josef Winkler to make it 1-1.

Then with 30 seconds of the quarter remaining Austria took the lead. A mis-trapped penalty corner still managed to find its way into the circle and fall for Florian Steyrer to force it home for 2-1.

Scotland had it all to do in the final quarter and started well with a creative penalty corner routine that narrowly avoided a Scottish stick looking to deflect home.

The longer the quarter went on Austria managed the game very well, and seemed to suck the life out of the contest. That was until Ali Douglas surged forward on a counter attack, flaunting mesmeric stick skills at speed to fashion a chance to strike at goal, but he was denied by a great save low to the left.

The late Scotland assault was punished by an Austrian counter attack. A long ball allowed Fulop Losonci to smash a low effort into the bottom right corner for 3-1.

Golden pulled one back immediately for Scotland when he popped up unmarked with a far post finish into the roof of the net to pull it back to 3-2, but an equaliser evaded the Scots and Austria took the points.

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