Positive performance as Scotland men draw with Wales in Cardiff

After Scotland had a good opening of possession hockey in the first three minutes, Wales dominated the remainder of the first quarter, resulting in a 2-0 lead through a combination of well worked aerial play, and direct balls into the D, leaving the Blue Sticks with a lot of questions to answer during the short break.

In the second quarter the new look Scotland team found the answers and battled back to make it 2-1 through a well worked counterattack on the right-hand side of the pitch culminating in quick connections between all three forwards, with Andy McConnell finding Jamie Golden, who selflessly squared it to a free Struan Walker standing in the middle of the goal for a tap in.

As the quarter continued, and Scotland started to sharpen its pressing structure, it provided them with opportunities to find gaps in what had been a very solid Wales defence up to that point. With a wave of attack Scotland finally won their first corner. Jamie Golden’s initial flick was saved well by the Welsh keeper, only to rebound right, where Kyle White took the ball on the full and finished with a two touch strike to make it 2-2 at the break.

The third quarter saw Scotland apply more pressure after a slow start to the second half, resulting in two penalty corners in quick succession. The first giving Scotland the lead courtesy of a Jamie Golden flick perfectly executed high in the net to the keeper’s glove side, to make it 3-2, before the second narrowly missing low to the keeper’s right by Andy McConnell which would have doubled the lead for the visitors.

Wales pulled level again before the end of the third quarter through a continuous phase of high pressure resulting in a penalty corner. David Forrester with a great first phase save from the Welsh flick but unfortunately the defence was unable to deal with the second phase, Wales capitalising on the ball spilling out to the left of the D.

There would be no further goals in the final quarter, thanks in part to the heroics of the young debutant in goals of Callum Douglas in quarter four. An initial save from the postman from a Welsh penalty corner took an unfortunate bobble resulting in a stroke with nine minutes remaining on the clock. Douglas denying Wales the lead with a fantastic save with the glove.

The match ended 3-3 in Cardiff, though the Scots could have nicked it with ten seconds remaining following a barrage of counter attacks following greater pressing.

The teams then played a shootout, which also ended 3-3, but Wales took the win in sudden death.

Head Coach Jonny Caren said, “This was a positive foundation from which to build on for the remaining two matches in the series. From when I started with the group four weeks ago, to what we watched today, we can already see the team embrace our principles and things are starting to gel. We just need to apply ourselves and remain focused to make that more consistent over the coming games.

“Six players played their first game today, a third of the team, and it was really pleasing to see how they all stepped up to the challenge. From being two nil down, while we were getting up to speed in the first quarter, it was excellent to see the fight and the application of what was asked of them to come back and take the lead. There’s still a lot of work to do between now and the Euros, to not only get ourselves in the lead, but to stay in front as opposed to drawing a game like today, but there was a lot of progress made that we can build on in the games ahead.”

 

 

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