Scotland men defeat Poland to claim final spot in Muscat

Scotland 4-1 Poland

A goal-laden final quarter saw Scotland beat Poland 4-1 to book their spot in the Men’s FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 Final. Two goals each for Jamie Golden and Struan Walker did the damage and the Scots play Egypt tomorrow for the silverware in Muscat, Oman.

It was a very even opening to the contest with both sides showing patience and caution in the early stages.

The first chance went to Scotland and it was an improvised Jamie Golden strike from a penalty corner. A mis-trap saw the ball pop up head height and Golden slammed it into the ground in front of the goalkeeper who reacted well to palm it away.

A short time later Keir Robb snuck into the Poland circle and zipped a low effort across the face of goal, but it evaded the far corner of the goal and Andy McConnell who was following in.

The Scots began to dominate as the game progressed but received a warning when Poland countered through Eryk Bembenek and his shot fizzed just wide of the left post.

Up the other end of the pitch and some lovely build up by McConnell teed up Struan Walker to fire towards the roof of the net, but he was denied by a tremendous save.

Then an exceptional run by Golden saw him spin and turn in the circle but a last gasp challenge denied him a strike at goal.

The third quarter saw the sides at stalemate with the only real chance falling to Scotland. An alternative corner routine saw Rob Field’s low effort blocked to the right of the goal.

It was the final quarter when the net began to bulge. The deadlock was finally broken early when Golden hammered a drag flick into the left corner for 1-0.

The opener was swiftly followed by a second when Walker broke in from the baseline and slammed the ball low into the right corner for 2-0.

Then a second Golden drag flick rocketed into the top left corner of the net to make it 3-0.

Scotland looked on easy street before Poland pulled one back when a Maxymilian Koperski drag flick found the bottom right corner for 3-1.

Any idea of a Polish comeback was quickly put to bed when a long pass forward found Walker in the Poland circle, and the striker calmly dispatched the ball into the net for 4-1 with under two minutes remaining, sealing a place in tomorrow’s final against Egypt.

Jamie Golden was awarded the player of the match and said: “It was a great performance from the team in a tough match-up. There’s not much we would have wanted to do differently today and we are going to stick with the same things tomorrow against Egypt in the final.”

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