Scotland off to great start against South Africa

 

Scotland Women got their four match series against South Africa off to a fine start with a 3-2 win at Peffermill today.
Goals from Ali Howie, Morag McLellan and Nikki Kidd gave the home side the victory that puts them 1-0 up in the four match series. South Africa’s all-time record goalscorer Pietie Coetzee added to her large tally with two penalty corner strikes.
Following the match, a delighted Head Coach Gordon Shepherd, said:
“I’m very happy with the performance and obviously the result. The performance was the main thing we were looking for today and it was a great win, a deserved win. We scored three goals, we probably should have scored a few more. We hit the post and we created great opportunities.
I was delighted with the way the team started the first half and the second half. We played some fantastic hockey today. There were always going to be times when we were under pressure; South Africa are a very, very good side but I thought our defending for most of the game was very good. It’s a great start to four internationals against them.
“The players are all happy and rightly so. They should celebrate their wins whoever the come against. There will be changes tomorrow so we need to make sure the players who come in are focussed. We need to make sure the players who didn’t play today who play tomorrow have a good concentration level. They can be absolutely sure that South Africa will pick up their game tomorrow so we need to be prepared.”
South Africa started the match displaying their attacking intent and the home defence had to be on their toes as the visitors pressed deep into Scottish territory during the first ten minutes.
However, it was Scotland who had the first opportunity when captain Linda Clement found Nikki Lloyd in space inside the South African circle, only for the Sevenoaks striker to be denied a shot on goal t by the close attention of two defenders.
The Scots didn’t have to wait much longer for another opportunity and the national side took the lead in the 15th minute after excellent build-up play by Heather Elder. The midfielder found Ali Howie in space and the Milne Craig Clydesdale Western player’s deflected shot spun past Vuyisanani Mangisa into the bottom left-hand corner to give her side a 1-0 lead.
South Africa were presented with a great chance to get back on level terms in the 23rd minute but Jade Mayne couldn’t get enough of a connection on the pass from Pietie Coetzee to trouble Scottish goalkeeper Amy Gibson.
In the 30th minute, Vikki Bunce almost grabbed a second goal for Scotland but her shot from the right hand side of the circle narrowly missed the target.
Three minutes later, South Africa were awarded a penalty corner for a Scotland foot inside the circle, but Coetzee’s subsequent penalty corner attempt was cleared easily by the defence.  A swift counter-attack led to Morag McLellan finding herself in space only a few yards out and the midfielder made no mistake with the finish to make it 2-0 with only a minute left before the half-time interval.
With the visiting side two goals down at half-time, Scotland looked to further press home their advantage following the break. Becky Ward almost found Ali Bell lurking with intent at the back post, before a surging run from Bunce into the opposition’s circle was foiled just as she was about to pull the trigger. There were also opportunities for Clement and Lloyd to extend the lead to three goals.
However, South Africa showed their menace from penalty corners when Coetzee found the bottom left hand corner of Gibson’s goal to pull one back for South Africa at 2-1 with a drag-flick in the 49th minute.
Gibson thwarted Coetzee with good excellent stops in the 52nd and 54th minute, while Mayne should have found the equaliser when she skewed her shot wide of target when clean through on goal.
With ten minutes to go, Kidd came agonisingly close to putting Scotland 3-1 up as she cracked a shot off the left-hand upright but the Edinburgh University midfielder registered on the scoresheet two minutes later as swivelled inside the circle to unleash a cracking reverse stick strike into the net and give Scotland a 3-1 lead in the 62nd minute.
South Africa were then awarded two penalty corners within the last five minutes; the first strike from Tarryn Bright was blocked by Gibson and cleared by Ward but the second penalty corner from Coetzee was unstoppable as it flew into the bottom left hand corner of the net in the 68th minute to leave the scoreline at 3-2.
The South Africans pressed for an equaliser but the Scots were more than up to the task and they closed out the game in the final two minutes to give them a 3-2 win at full-time.
The two sides meet again tomorrow with a 4pm start at Peffermill.
Scotland Women:  Amy Gibson, Nicki Cochrane, Vikki Bunce, Becky Ward, Linda Clement, Kareena Marshall, Becky Merchant, Nikki Kidd, Susan McGilveray, Ali Howie, Emily Maguire, Aileen Davies, Sarah Robertson, Heather Elder, Nikki Lloyd, Morag McLellan.

Scotland (Howie 15′, McLellan 34′, Kidd 62′) 3-2 South Africa (Coetzee 49′, 68′)

Scotland Women got their four match series against South Africa off to a fine start with a 3-2 win at Peffermill today.

Goals from Ali Howie, Morag McLellan and Nikki Kidd gave the home side the victory that puts them 1-0 up in the four match series. South Africa’s all-time record goalscorer Pietie Coetzee added to her large tally with two penalty corner strikes.

Emily Maguire vs SA

(Scotland defender Emily Maguire gets the better of the ball. Credit: Duncan Gray)

Following the match, a delighted Scotland Head Coach Gordon Shepherd, said:

“I’m very happy with the performance and obviously the result. The performance was the main thing we were looking for today and it was a great win, a deserved win. We scored three goals, we probably should have scored a few more. We hit the post and we created great opportunities.

“I was delighted with the way the team started the first half and the second half. We played some fantastic hockey today. There were always going to be times when we were under pressure; South Africa are a very, very good side but I thought our defending for most of the game was very good. It’s a great start to four internationals against them.

“The players are all happy and rightly so. They should celebrate their wins whoever they come against. There will be changes tomorrow so we need to make sure the players who come in are focussed. We need to make sure the players who didn’t play today who play tomorrow have a good concentration level. They can be absolutely sure that South Africa will pick up their game so we need to be prepared.”

South Africa started the match displaying their attacking intent and the home defence had to be on their toes as the visitors pressed deep into Scottish territory during the first ten minutes.

However, it was Scotland who had the first opportunity when captain Linda Clement found Nikki Lloyd in space inside the South African circle, only for the Sevenoaks striker to be denied a shot on goal by the close attention of two defenders.

The Scots didn’t have to wait much longer for another opportunity and the national side took the lead in the 15th minute after excellent build-up play by Heather Elder. The midfielder found Ali Howie in space and the Milne Craig Clydesdale Western player’s deflected shot spun past Vuyisanani Mangisa into the bottom left-hand corner to give her side a 1-0 lead.

Ali Howie vs SA

(Ali Howie was one of Scotland’s three goalscorers against South Africa. Credit: Duncan Gray)

South Africa were presented with a great chance to get back on level terms in the 23rd minute but Jade Mayne couldn’t get enough of a connection on the pass from Pietie Coetzee to trouble Scottish goalkeeper Amy Gibson.

In the 30th minute, Vikki Bunce almost grabbed a second goal for Scotland but her shot from the right hand side of the circle narrowly missed the target.

Three minutes later, South Africa were awarded a penalty corner for a Scotland foot inside the circle, but Coetzee’s subsequent penalty corner attempt was cleared easily by the defence.  A swift counter-attack led to Morag McLellan finding herself in space only a few yards out and the midfielder made no mistake with the finish to make it 2-0 with only a minute left before the half-time interval.

With the visiting side two goals down at half-time, Scotland looked to further press home their advantage following the break. Becky Ward almost found Ali Bell lurking with intent at the back post, before a surging run from Bunce into the opposition’s circle was foiled just as she was about to pull the trigger. There were also opportunities for Clement and Lloyd to extend the lead to three goals.

Scotland counter-attack v SA

(Scotland captain Linda Clement launches a Scottish attack. Credit: Duncan Gray)

However, South Africa showed their menace from penalty corners when Coetzee found the bottom left hand corner of Gibson’s goal to pull one back for South Africa at 2-1 with a drag-flick in the 49th minute.

Gibson thwarted Coetzee with good excellent stops in the 52nd and 54th minute, while Mayne should have found the equaliser when she skewed her shot wide of target when clean through on goal.

Amy Gibson vs SA

(Amy Gibson pulling off one of many saves from Pietie Coetzee. Credit: Duncan Gray)

With ten minutes to go, Kidd came agonisingly close to putting Scotland 3-1 up as she cracked a shot off the left-hand upright but the Edinburgh University midfielder registered on the scoresheet two minutes later as swivelled inside the circle to unleash a cracking reverse stick strike into the net and give the senior women a 3-1 lead in the 62nd minute.

South Africa were then awarded two penalty corners within the last five minutes; the first strike from Tarryn Bright was blocked by Gibson and cleared by Ward but the second penalty corner from Coetzee was unstoppable as it flew into the bottom left hand corner of the net in the 68th minute to give a 3-2 scoreline.

The South Africans pressed for an equaliser but the Scots were more than up to the task and they closed out the game in the final two minutes to record a 3-2 win at full-time.

The two sides meet again tomorrow with a 2pm start at Peffermill.

Scotland Women: Amy Gibson, Nicki Cochrane, Vikki Bunce, Becky Ward, Linda Clement, Kareena Marshall, Becky Merchant, Nikki Kidd, Susan McGilveray, Ali Howie, Emily Maguire, Aileen Davies, Sarah Robertson, Heather Elder, Nikki Lloyd, Morag McLellan.

 

 

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