Scotland end Valencia training camp on a high

 

Scotland Senior Women completed a testing warm weather camp in Valencia, Spain last night with an excellent and hard-fought 1-0 win over Germany in the final training match.
The Scots have made significant improvement over the week, with an opening 8-0 defeat on Sunday, followed by a 1-0 reversal, and ending the camp on a high with a win against the world number seven
“The improvement from the first game is significant, the players worked hard at specific things, especially defensive skills,” said a delighted Shepherd.  “I honestly can`t remember the last time we beat a top ten team.”
Shepherd can now look forward to the EuroHockey Nations Championships in London this summer with greater confidence, especially as the Germans are the opposition in the opening pool match.
“This week`s training weekend has been a very worthwhile experience, the squad have moved on significantly, excellent preparation for the Europeans,” said Shepherd.
The goal came in the first quarter, Louise Campbell opened up the German defence with a penetrating move up the right and Nikki Kidd, who plays for German side Mannheimer, stroked the ball into the empty net.
No further goals but the Scottish defence, with goalkeeper Nikki Cochrane in particularly fine form, stood firm against the normally lethal German strike-force for a famous victory.
Scotland had started the week with a difficult result to take, falling 8-0 to the Germans, but Shepherd was far from dismayed by the outcome, “I was happy with the effort, but we were not a match for the German intensity and clinical finishing and I was also disappointed with the goals we lost.
“Also that was our first game in four months while the Germans were on the back of three recent games against Spain.”
The Germans were restricted to a single goal in the second match largely due to a string of excellent saves by Merlins` goalkeeper Siobhan Cowie, when there were no goals conceded from seven penalty corners.
“We improved considerably from the first game and although Germany deserved to win we played two new systems with new players, so there were a lot of positives,” said Shepherd.    “The effort and work rate were as good as I`ve ever seen.”

Scotland Senior Women completed a testing warm weather camp in Valencia, Spain last night with an excellent and hard-fought 1-0 win over Germany in the final training match.

The Scots have made significant improvement over the week, with an opening 8-0 defeat on Sunday, followed by a 1-0 reversal, and ending the camp on a high with a win against the world number seven

“The improvement from the first game is significant, the players worked hard at specific things, especially defensive skills,” said a delighted Gordon Shepherd.  “I honestly can`t remember the last time we beat a top ten team.”

Shepherd can now look forward to the EuroHockey Nations Championships in London this summer with greater confidence, especially as the Germans are the opposition in the opening pool match.

“This week`s training weekend has been a very worthwhile experience, the squad have moved on significantly, excellent preparation for the Europeans,” said Shepherd.

The goal came in the first quarter, Louise Campbell opened up the German defence with a penetrating move up the right and Nikki Kidd, who plays for German side Mannheimer, stroked the ball into the empty net.

No further goals but the Scottish defence, with goalkeeper Nikki Cochrane in particularly fine form, stood firm against the normally lethal German strike-force for a famous victory.

Scotland had started the week with a difficult result to take, falling 8-0 to the Germans, but Shepherd was far from dismayed by the outcome, “I was happy with the effort, but we were not a match for the German intensity and clinical finishing and I was also disappointed with the goals we lost.

“Also that was our first game in four months while the Germans were on the back of three recent games against Spain.”

The Germans were restricted to a single goal in the second match largely due to a string of excellent saves by Merlins` goalkeeper Siobhan Cowie, when there were no goals conceded from seven penalty corners.

“We improved considerably from the first game and although Germany deserved to win we played two new systems with new players, so there were a lot of positives,” said Shepherd.

“The effort and work rate were as good as I`ve ever seen.”

 

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