Ralph notches the winner

SCOTLAND 1  IRELAND  0 
(WOMEN)

A single strike from Catriona Ralph gave Scotland women
a single goal victory over Ireland, four places above them in the
world rankings, at Auchenhowie yesterday, a result that clinched
the three test match series 2-1 for Gordon Shepherd`s
charges.

There was little to choose between the sides in the opening
exchanges, but in 15 minutes the Scots had a chance to take the
lead, the build-up work was done by Ailsa Wyllie and Linda Clement
flipped the resulting loose ball goalwards only for the Irish
goalkeeper to produce a top-class save.  Although Amy Gibson
in the Scotland goal had a couple of saves to make, the Scots
gradually took command and went ahead at their first penalty
corner, a reverse stick shot by Susan McGilveray was brilliantly
deflected into the net off the crossbar by Ralph.

The Scots had further chances before the interval, Vikki Bunce
shot wide at a set piece and a Sarah Robertson cross eluded the
Irish defence but there were no Scottish takers. 

The second half was a rather turgid affair with few chances to
either side.   Nikki Kidd had her penalty corner drag
flick blocked by the keeper, then a brilliant through ball from
Bunce was missed by Nikki Lloyd on her own in the circle. 
Although the Scots survived an overtime penalty corner scare, the
home defence gave the Irish only a handful of chances in the entire
contest.

There were a couple of presentations before the start of
the contest, Ailsa Wylie for her 100th Scotland cap and also
captain Linda Clement, she is now the most capped Scotland player
with a total of 189 international matches 

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