Scotland lose out to Spain in nine goal thriller

 


The Four Nations tournament hosted by Scottish Hockey began
yesterday at the sportscotland  National Centre,
 Inverclyde on Saturday as coach Russell Garcia continues his
preparations for the forthcoming Champions  Challenge and
European Nations Trophy.

Scotland’s first opponents in this testing weekend programme were
Spain who are ranked No5 in the world  and this resulted in a
thoroughly entertaining contest which finally saw Spain run out 6-3
winners.

Scotland made a tremendous start to the first half, in atrocious
weather conditions, and took a deserved lead in the eleventh minute
when a solo run into the circle by Surbiton’s Chris Grassick was
finished off with low strike into the keeper’s right hand
corner.

The shocked Spanish hit back five minutes later with their first
short corner and Roc Oliva deceived Glynhill Kelburne’s Mark Fulton
in the Scotland goal with a low shot.

Scotland continued their excellent performance and Grassick was
unfortunate to see a further effort saved whilst keeper Fulton had
little to do before producing a wonderful save with minutes
remaining.

With the interval fast approaching HDM’s Kenny Bain won a short
corner, Niall Stott (East Grinstead) then saw two efforts saved and
a further corner resulted. Then FC Barcelona’s Fergus Dunn had a
deflected effort save again before Willie Marshall (Glynhill
Kelburne) managed to force the ball home to give Scotland a much
deserved interval advantage.

The rain abated after the interval which certainly seemed to suit
the visitors. However Scotland did increase their lead when an Iain
Scholefield (Kelburne) cross was fired into the net by Kenny
Bain.

However Spain then stepped up their level of performance
demonstrating their undisputed class,  carving open the
Scottish defence with the speed, pace and stick work which is very
much their trademark resulting  in a five goal salvo to which
the home side had no answer.

Scotland,  ranked 23, can however take many positives from a
game where they matched  their illustrious opponents for long
periods before succumbing to the final twenty minute onslaught
which most sides in the world would have struggled to cope
with.

Scotland face the might of Germany (ranked No 2),  including
Mathias Witthaus boasting an astonishing  324 caps, today
before finishing with current European Champions England (No 4) on
Monday.

The other fixture played yesterday saw Germany draw 3-3 with
England.

An invitational Four Nations tournament hosted by Scottish
Hockey began at at the sportscotland National
Centre,  Inverclyde on Saturday as coach Russell Garcia
continues his preparations for the forthcoming Champions Challenge
and European Nations Trophy.

Scotland’s first opponents in this testing weekend programme
were Spain who are ranked No.5 in the world and this resulted in a
thoroughly entertaining contest which finally saw Spain run out 6-3
winners.

Scotland made a tremendous start to the first half, in atrocious
weather conditions, and took a deserved lead in the eleventh minute
when a solo run into the circle by Surbiton’s Chris Grassick was
finished off with low strike into the keeper’s right hand
corner.

The shocked Spanish hit back five minutes later with their first
short corner and Roc Oliva deceived Glynhill Hotel Kelburne’s Mark
Fulton in the Scotland goal with a low shot.

Scotland continued their excellent performance and Grassick was
unfortunate to see a further effort saved whilst keeper Fulton had
little to do before producing a wonderful save with minutes
remaining.

With the interval fast approaching HDM’s Kenny Bain won a short
corner, Niall Stott (East Grinstead) then saw two efforts saved and
a further corner resulted. Then FC Barcelona’s Fergus Dunn had a
deflected effort save again before Willie Marshall (Glynhill Hotel
Kelburne) managed to force the ball home to give Scotland a much
deserved interval advantage.

The rain abated after the interval which certainly seemed to
suit the visitors. However Scotland did increase their lead when an
Iain Scholefield (Glynhill Hotel Kelburne) cross was fired into the
net by Bain.

However, Spain then stepped up their level of performance
demonstrating their undisputed class,  opening up the Scottish
defence with the speed, pace and stick work which is very much
their trademark resulting in a five goal salvo to which the home
side had no answer.

Scotland, ranked 23, can however take many positives from a game
where they matched  their illustrious opponents for long
periods before succumbing to the final twenty minute onslaught
which most sides in the world would have struggled to cope
with.

Scotland face the might of Germany (ranked No.2), including
Mathias Witthaus boasting an astonishing 324 caps, at 17.00
tomorrow before finishing with current European Champions England
(No.4) at 12.00 on Monday.

The other fixture played today saw Germany draw 3-3 with
England.

 

 

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