Scotland men make a great come back but just miss out on a draw

Scotland made a surging come back against South Africa today but just fell short to secure that first win, losing 3-2 to the 11th ranked side.

The Scots started strong with Nicky Parkes being unfortunate not to take the lead as he found himself unmarked in the D but his strike shattering the top post.

Scotland dominated for the first 15 minutes but South Africa’s first attack in the Scottish D they were awarded with a penalty corner, captain Aiden Smith drag flick put it past Jamie Cachia for South Africa to take the lead 1-0. This knocked Scotland and South Africa found a new energy and then went on to score their second. At the half time whistle went Scotland were 2-0 down.

SCO v SA Investec DC

(Dan Coultas in action today against South Africa. Taken by Ady Kerry)

In the second half Scotland came out eager for their first goal, Dan Coultas placing some fantastic balls through the middle for the Scotland forwards to run at the South African defence.

It was end to end play and on the 43rd minute South Africa furthered their lead with a field goal from Jean-Pierre de Voux. However this didn’t dampen spirts as the crowd got behind the Scots, the men kept pushing and after dangerous play on Niall Stott in the D Scotland were rewarded with a penalty strike. Coultas neatly slotted Scotland’s first goal away into the top corner. Two minutes later Gordon McIntrye put a brilliant ball in to Wei Adams who made a great dive for the ball over the keeper to get Scotlands second goal.

The Scottish come back was on. Some fantastic play from McIntrye and Bain down the right hand side and some great runs along the back line from Michael Bremner were made but the Scots couldn’t quite get that final finish on the ball to snatch a draw.

Captain Chris Nelson is pleased with progression of the team’s performance throughout the tournament; ‘There were a lot of positives from today. The first game against England really gave us a lesson, they showed what a full time team can do and their work rate and they played outstanding but we lifted our performance against Ireland and again today.

‘We are building well in every tournament ahead of the games. This weekend is about performance as we have had quite a lot of time between this and our last tournament so it was always going to be a shock to the system to get back into it. These four games are not about the results but nailing the performance.’

Head coach Derek Forsyth was frustrated with the score line but was happier about the performance;

‘We put ourselves on the back foot after the first goal went in, which made it difficult for the lads after how well we started. However the second half I cannot fault the boys as we performed much better.

‘We were very confident of getting a result off South Africa but overall it may have been down to our final touch in the D that we need to improve on to get that result.

‘It is unfortunate that we are playing them again so quickly but equally the boys will be really looking forward to get a good result and another strong performance off them tomorrow.’

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