Missed chances sink young Scots

SCOTLAND   0  IRELAND 
2

It was a case of missed chances by the Scots and
clinical finishing by the Irish, that was the essential difference
between the sides as Ireland took the under 21 Celtic Cup with a
2-0 victory in Wrexham – they had beaten Wales by the same score on
Friday.

“We created eight or nine good chances in the game, in another
day we could have scored several goals, but at the end of the day
the Irish took their chances and we didn`t, so they won the game,”
said Neil Allan, Scotland`s manager.

In a competitive opening the Scots had their fair share of
opportunities falling mainly to Alan Forsyth, Duncan Riddell and
Alasdair Irvine, but the score sheet remained blank.  
With four minutes remaining in the half, Riddell came sliding in to
deflect the ball but his effort went just wide of the
target.   Ironically, a couple of minutes later it was
the Irish who took the lead, Thomas O`Kelly made the initial save
but then unluckily collided with defender Chris Duncan, leaving
Owen Magee the simple task of finding the empty goal.

The Scots youngsters exerted some early pressure in the second
half and again Forsyth and Irvine had the best of the
chances.   Failure in front of goal by the Scots attack
was again punished by the Irish, David Carson made it 2-0 at a
counter-attack.   Ireland then put the Scots under
pressure going for the third, but at three consecutive penalty
corners O`Kelly frustrated the Irish set piece experts with
comfortable saves.

With 15 minutes left, a great shot by Riddell produced a penalty
corner for Scotland, Forsyth had the ball in the net but his effort
was disallowed for dangerous play.   Yellow cards and the
sin bin to Stuart Allan and Michael Bremner reduced the Scots to
nine players and greatly limited their ability to get back into the
contest.   The Scots almost struck with a late penalty
corner, but Fraser Sands` low strike was directed straight at the
keeper and the chance was lost.

Tomorrow Scotland play hosts Wales in a game only for pride and
second place.

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