Scotland set their sights on France in semi-final match

Successful tournament management is all about
winning the crucial games, and that is precisely what coach Russell
Garcia achieved by beating China 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the
Champions Challenge in Lille on Thursday.   Tomorrow the Scots
lock horns again with hosts France in the semi-final while the
other is contested by Russia and Ireland – ironically all the teams
emanating from Pool B.
The format is bizarre, the Scots lost to Ireland,
Russia and France and finished with the wooden spoon in the pool
competition, meanwhile the Chinese finished undefeated in pole
position in their group, but it is Garcia`s charges who move on to
the medal games while the Asians are consigned to playing for
places five to eight.
But Scotland manager Eugene Connolly is not
complaining.  “This was an absolutely splendid result, it
opens up the whole tournament and playing for a medal takes the
pressure off as we`ve already achieved our objective of finishing
in the top four.”
The victory over China, ranked 14th in the world
and nine places above the Scots, has a wider implication for
Scotland according to Connolly.  “Playing for medals in the
top group will give us crucial world ranking points, also this will
be excellent preparation for the European Nations Championships in
Ukraine next month, and it shows that Scottish hockey is on the
up.
“In addition, we want to do as well as the Scotland
girls who grabbed the bronze medal in their Champions Challenge
tournament last month – or perhaps even do better,”
Like Scotland`s women, whose ranking recently went
up from 21st to 17th, the men`s status of 23rd has been shown to be
artificially low.  The United States, Austria and China are
all above the Scots on the international ladder and they will be
fighting it out for the lower placings in Lille.  Also, this
has been achieved with six squad players short, especially
Olympians Niall Stott and Stephen Dick who are committed to Great
Britain in the elite Champions Trophy in Delhi next December.
Getting to Sunday`s final will mean seeing off
France on their own soil.  The hosts are unbeaten so far in
the competition, but they only beat Austria in a penalty shoot-out
in their semi-final on Thursday after the teams were tied at 2-2 in
normal time.
The Scots lost 3-2 to France in their pool
encounter.   Fergus Dunn provided a first half lead but three
consecutive goals after the interval knocked the stuffing out of
the Scots, although Dan Coultas provided a late consolation from a
penalty corner.
So how does Connolly propose to turn defeat into
victory today.   “Simply we need to score more goals and
concede less.  After taking the lead against France, we let
them back into the game with some slack defending.  This time
we must keep control if we get ahead and not give them
opportunities to get back at us,” said Connolly.
Restricting the high-flying Chinese to a single
early goal is perhaps a sign that the defence department is now
demonstrating greater composure.   The rear guard of Willie
Marshall, Graham Moodie and Dan Coultas easily contained a Chinese
attack that desperately sought to get back into the contest, and a
sign of their success was that Scottish goalkeeper Mark Fulton was
rarely called into action in the closing 25 minutes.
Connolly remarked: “There is a very happy mood in
the squad, we have no injury issues, now we must refocus our
endeavours to get a win against France in today`s
semi-final.”

 

Successful tournament management is all about winning
the crucial games, and that is precisely what the senior men and
coach Russell Garcia achieved by beating China 2-1 in the
quarter-finals of the Champions Challenge in Lille on
Thursday.

Tomorrow the Scots lock horns again with hosts France in the
semi-final while the other is contested by Russia and Ireland –
ironically all the teams emanating from Pool B.

Despite China topping Pool A unbeaten, and Scotland having a
disappointing Pool B campaign, the nature of the competition means
that the quarter final win has propelled Garcia`s charges to
compete in the medal games this weekend, while the Asians are
consigned to playing for places five to eight.

But Scotland manager Eugene Connolly is not complaining:

“This was an absolutely splendid result, it opens up the whole
tournament and playing for a medal takes the pressure off as we`ve
already achieved our objective of finishing in the top four.”

The victory over China, ranked 14th in the world and nine places
above the Scots, has a wider implication for Scotland according to
Connolly.  “Playing for medals in the top group will give us
crucial world ranking points, also this will be excellent
preparation for the European Nations Championship in Ukraine next
month. It shows that Scottish hockey is on the up.

“In addition, we want to do as well as the Scotland Women, who
grabbed the bronze medal in their Champions Challenge tournament
last month – or perhaps even do better”.

Like Scotland Women, whose ranking recently went up from 21st to
17th, the men`s status of 23rd has been shown to be artificially
low.  The United States, Austria and China are all above the
Scots on the international ladder and they will be fighting it out
for the lower placings in Lille.  Also, this has been achieved
with six squad players short, especially Olympians Niall Stott and
Stephen Dick who are committed to Great Britain in the elite
Champions Trophy in Delhi next December.

Getting to Sunday`s final will mean seeing off France on their
own soil.  The hosts are unbeaten so far in the competition,
but they only beat Austria in a penalty shoot-out in their
semi-final on Thursday after the teams were tied at 2-2 in normal
time.

The Scots lost 3-2 to France in their pool encounter. Fergus
Dunn provided a first half lead but three consecutive goals after
the interval knocked the stuffing out of the Scots, although Dan
Coultas provided a late consolation from a penalty corner.

So how does Connolly propose to turn defeat into victory:

“Simply we need to score more goals and concede less.
 After taking the lead against France, we let them back into
the game with some slack defending.  This time we must keep
control if we get ahead and not give them opportunities to get back
at us,” said Connolly.

Restricting the high-flying Chinese to a single early goal is
perhaps a sign that the defence department is now demonstrating
greater composure.  The rearguard of Willie Marshall, Graham
Moodie and Dan Coultas easily contained a Chinese attack that
desperately sought to get back into the contest, and a sign of
their success was that Scottish goalkeeper Mark Fulton was rarely
called into action in the closing 25 minutes.

Connolly remarked:

“There is a very happy mood in the squad, we have no injury
issues, now we must refocus our endeavours to get a win against
France in today`s semi-final.”

Tomorrow’s match gets underway at 1.00pm BST and more
information can be found on the FIH Champions Challenge II website.

 

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