Scotland men lose in Cardiff as competitive test series ends with one win each

Scotland men were defeated 6-1 by Wales in the second of two test matches in Cardiff, with Ed Greaves finding the net for the Blue Sticks.

The Scots won the previous day’s contest 4-2 and both games provided a highly competitive outing for the many new faces in the Scotland team, playing their first games for their country.

Scotland went on the attack at the start and put the Welsh defence under pressure with a high press, but Wales, deep into preparations for the EuroHockey Championships, dealt with the pressure well and prevented an early goal.

Midway through the quarter a green card was shown to Scotland’s Gordon Amour and moments later Wales took the lead through a goal by Jolyon Morgan.

Gareth Furlong then extended the home side’s lead four minutes later when he slammed home a drag flick penalty corner to make it 2-0.

It went to 3-0 just before the end of the first quarter when James Carson struck a lovely finish to give his side a great advantage.

Into the second quarter and the game raged on with end-to-end attacks; superb energy was shown by both teams with the game played at high tempo.

It would be Wales to strike next however when a penalty stroke was awarded to the home side, and converted by Joseph Naughalty.

A yellow card was shown to Andy Bull, but the Blue Sticks responded well and pulled one back through Ed Greaves just before half time. Jamie Golden found himself unmarked and surged forward on a counter attack, Greaves made a 50 yard run to support and found himself on the end of Golden’s pass to score.

After the break Scotland responded well and won the first penalty corner of the half but their attack was kept at bay by Welsh defence.

Half way through the third quarter Wales further extended their advantage when Rhys Bradshaw scored to make it 5-1 to the home side.

The Scots earned a couple of penalty corners towards the end of the quarter, but the first was well run down by the Welsh defence and the second was well saved by the keeper.

Another penalty stroke went the way of Wales in the final quarter and Naughalty converted it for his second, and Wales’ sixth of the match.

Head Coach Derek Forsyth, “We made a really bad start and it’s really hard to come back from 3-0 down. Also, I think the second game coming so quickly after the first – we’re not ready for that turnaround yet, but that’ll come back to us in time. We’re right at the start of our programme, and we’ve still got a bit to go yet.

“It’s a poor result but there’s also lots of positives from the game, we had really good periods of play and won more corners than them. It was important for us to not get too high after winning yesterday, and also not to get too low after today. There’s a lot of new and young players in the team who’ll learn a lot from these games, and we’ve got plenty to build on as we continue our return to play. It’s been a good weekend for us.”

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