A Ralph penalty stuns Belarus

WORLD LEAGUE ROUND 1 – PRAGUE – 14-19 AUGUST
2012

SCOTLAND  2     BELARUS 
1

A spot conversion by Catriona Ralph with five minutes
remaining gave Scotland a crucial 2-1 win over Belarus, the side
most likely to be the Scots chief rival for top spot in World
League in Prague.  

After crushing Turkey 10-0, Italy are in pole position in the
table at the moment, they lead the Scots on goal difference, but
they have both Scotland and Belarus to play in their last two
fixtures.

Scotland had the best of the opening 20 minutes and chances fell
to Sam Judge, Holly Cram and Nikki Kidd from a penalty
corner.   During this period of pressure the Scots forged
ahead, a flowing move involving Ralph, Nikki Lloyd and Linda
Clement opened up the Belarus defence, leaving Ali Bell with the
simple task of rolling the ball home.

Belarus retaliated, a challenge at the top of the circle saw the
ball unfortunately loop to a Belarus striker who gratefully slotted
the ball past Amy Gibson for the equaliser.  Belarus continued
to press to take the lead and Gibson was called upon to make a good
block to keep the scores level at the interval.

In a fairly even second half, both sides tending to cancel each
other out, but Belarus had a few chances which brought Gibson again
into action.  The Scots were restricted to a half-chance for
Judge but it came to nothing.   But it was Gordon
Shepherd`s side who held their nerve, a penalty corner strike by
Ralph was illegally saved on the line by a Belarus defender, and
the same player converted from the spot with a low flick to the
keeper`s left.

“I am delighted to have won this physical battle with Belarus
and to take the three points.   I always knew Belarus
were going to be a real threat, but I`m delighted we still have a
perfect record after the first three games,” said Shepherd.

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