Good performance by Scotland women despite Belgian win

Scotland DublinScotland Women’s penultimate game in the 4-Nations tournament in Ireland saw the team defeated 2-0 by Belgium in a very close competitive encounter. The two had met the previous day in another very even game, which resulted in a 0-0 draw.

This time the first half was very similar to the previous game; very even with both teams flaunting some good skills, and ending 0-0.

Despite another good second half performance Scotland found themselves exposed on the turn over, which led to a couple of Belgian goals.

Belgium won the ball well in the second half and managed to overload the Scots. It was on one of these occasions when Stephanie Vanden Borre opened the scoring on 39 minutes. Sophie Anne-Weyns added a second on 51 minutes, creating an uphill challenge for the Scots.

Scotland had chances themselves. A corner routine in the first half set up Nikki Lloyd but Megane Simmons made a solid save. It was another good performance by Lloyd, who has had a good tournament. Katie Robertson also played well again, as she has done all tournament.

Amy Costello smashed a shot just past the post from a short corner; Charlotte Watson was unlucky not to score from a drive into the D; as was Kate Holmes from a similar move into the Belgian D.

Head Coach Gordon Shepherd said it was a fair result but that there was not much between the teams despite the score line. Many positives can be taken from the games so far, according to Shepherd, such as all the other teams in the 4-Nations are playing at full strength and our young team was able to compete for long periods. The tournament is creating good competition within the squad.

Scotland’s Co-captain Becky Ward said:

“We always knew it was going to be a tough game after yesterday’s performance and we knew they would come out hard, and make improvements. We had a really good game yesterday but knew we would have to step up a gear today to get the result. We started off well and the first half created a lot of opportunities for both sides. The second half became a bit of a turn over game and unfortunately Belgium capitalised on this. The team is definitely moving in the right direction and we are looking forward to the final challenge against Chile on Friday.”

Scotland’s next game is against Chile on Friday at 12pm.

 

 

 

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