Scotland U18 sides record Welsh victories in Stirling

Scotland’s U18 squads came out on top against their Welsh counterparts at Forthbank today with both sides gaining wins in the Stirling sunshine.
Scotland U18 Boys recorded a comprehensive 6-0 win over Wales in the first match of the day, with the goals being shared amongst skipper Ed Greaves, John Reid, Aedan McCrossan, Hamish Imrie, Murdo Elwis and Andrew Duff.
Following his side’s victory, Scotland U18 Head Coach Graham Dunlop said, “Six nil in an international match is always good and if someone said to me before the match we’d score six I would have taken that.
“It’s a good result but the boys can play better and there will be a different set of players lining up tomorrow so other boys will come in and get their chance.”
Scotland U18 Captain Ed Greaves said, “We’re pretty happy with that and it’s the first time that the boys have played together. They all put their heart and soul into the match, which you can see when we win six nil. It doesn’t often happen as a Scotland player so we’re all delighted.”
It was Wales who made the early chances in the opening stages of the match; in the tenth minute a cross from the left hand side flashed across the face of goal with Rhodri Furlong’s effort skewing wide of Ewan Campbell’s goal. Moreover, the Welsh had the ball in the net in the 14th minute but Furlong’s strike was chalked off for being outside the circle.
Scotland came into the game in the 19th minute when Fergus Sandison cut through the midfield and got off a shot that was smartly saved by the Wales goalkeeper. However, the Scots were not to be denied for much longer when Hamish Imrie’s shot was well saved only for the ball to fall to Ed Greaves at the back post and he lashed the ball into the goal to give his side a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute.
Wales were then awarded a penalty flick in the 28th minute but Campbell pulled off an excellent save low to his right to deny Furlong once again and keep his side in front.
It paid off two minutes later when Scotland doubled their lead courtesy of a brilliant slide and strike by John Reid into the roof of the next to make it 2-0 in the 30th minute.
With the half-time scoreline at 2-0, Dunlop’s charges came out for the second half with more menace to their play. In the 47th minute, a well worked penalty corner set-piece led to Aedan McCrossan sliding the ball low and hard into the right hand corner of the goal to make it 3-0.
The home side then survived four penalty corner attempts by the Welsh before Reid and Greaves both came close to a fourth Scotland goal.
In the 60th minute, the Scots put the game beyond their opponents when Imrie struck an excellent shot from the right hand of the circle past the despairing dive of the goalkeeper.
Two goals in the last three minutes of the match completed a 6-0 win; Murdo Elwis’ back post finish in the 68th minute made it 5-0 before Andrew Duff rounded off the scoring at 6-0 with an easy tap-in in the 70th minute after the Welsh went to eleven outfield players.
Meanwhile, Scotland U18 Girls edged a tight contest against their Welsh counterparts with a 1-0 win. Emma McGregor got the goal for the national side.
Following the match, Scotland U18 Girls Assistant Coach Mark Ralph said, “It was a good performance. This is the first time a few of the players have played together so there are obviously a few things to work on. We need to keep improving and work on various things in training and the match tomorrow.
“We’ll approach the game slightly differently tomorrow but we’re focussing the processes rather than the results as we prepare for Europe. We’ve got some targets and this weekend is about preparing and working towards them.”
In a game of few goal-scoring opportunities, Scotland opened their account in the third minute when Emma McGregor darted in from the left hand side of circle to slip the ball past the Welsh goalkeeper to make it 1-0.
With no real attempts on goal in the remainder of the first half, the two sides contested a tight affair with defences coming out on top.
However, Scotland gained a penalty corner early in the second half and Susan Graham’s attempt on goal was well saved by the Welsh ‘keeper. Wales responded with a penalty corner in the 48th minute but the Scots defended well and the danger cleared.
Defences again came to fore for most of the second half, but Graham did force a double save from in the 65th minute before the two sides played out the match to finish 1-0.

Scotland’s U18 squads came out on top against their Welsh counterparts at Forthbank today with both sides gaining wins in the Stirling sunshine.

Scotland U18 Boys 6-0 Wales

Scotland U18 Boys recorded a comprehensive 6-0 win over Wales in the first match of the day, with the goals being shared amongst skipper Ed Greaves, John Reid, Aedan McCrossan, Hamish Imrie, Murdo Elwis and Andrew Duff.

Following his side’s victory, Scotland U18 Head Coach Graham Dunlop said, “Six nil in an international match is always good and if someone said to me before the match we’d score six I would have taken that.

“It’s a good result but the boys can play better and there will be a different set of players lining up tomorrow so other boys will come in and get their chance.”

Scotland U18 Captain Ed Greaves said, “We’re pretty happy with that and it’s the first time that the boys have played together. They all put their heart and soul into the match, which you can see when we win six nil. It doesn’t often happen as a Scotland player so we’re all delighted.”

It was Wales who made the early chances in the opening stages of the match; in the tenth minute a cross from the left hand side flashed across the face of goal and Rhodri Furlong’s effort skewed just wide of Ewan Campbell’s left hand post. The Welsh then had the ball in the net in the 14th minute but Furlong’s strike was chalked off for being outside the circle.

Scotland came into the game in the 19th minute when Fergus Sandison cut through the midfield and got off a shot that was smartly saved by the Wales goalkeeper.

However, the Scots were not to be denied for much longer when Hamish Imrie’s shot was well saved only for the ball to fall to Ed Greaves at the back post and he lashed the ball into the goal to give his side a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute.

Wales were then awarded a penalty flick in the 28th minute but Campbell pulled off an excellent save low to his right to deny Furlong once again and keep his side in front.

It paid off two minutes later when Scotland doubled their lead courtesy of a brilliant slide and strike by John Reid into the roof of the next to make it 2-0 in the 30th minute.

With the half-time scoreline at 2-0, Dunlop’s charges came out for the second half with more menace to their play. In the 47th minute, a well worked penalty corner set-piece led to Aedan McCrossan sliding the ball low and hard into the right hand corner of the goal to make it 3-0.

The home side then survived four penalty corner attempts by the Welsh before Reid and Greaves both came close to a fourth Scotland goal.

In the 60th minute, the Scots put the game beyond their opponents when Imrie struck an excellent shot from the right hand of the circle past the despairing dive of the goalkeeper.

Two goals in the last three minutes of the match completed a 6-0 win; Murdo Elwis’ back post finish in the 68th minute made it 5-0 before Andrew Duff rounded off the scoring at 6-0 with an easy tap-in in the 70th minute after the Welsh went to eleven outfield players.

Scotland U18 Girls 1-0 Wales

Meanwhile, Scotland U18 Girls edged a tight contest against their Welsh counterparts with a 1-0 win. Emma McGregor got the goal for the national side.

Following the match, Scotland U18 Girls Assistant Coach Mark Ralph said, “It was a good performance. This is the first time a few of the players have played together so there are obviously a few things to work on. We need to keep improving and work on various things in training and the match tomorrow.

“We’ll approach the game slightly differently tomorrow but we’re focussing the processes rather than the results as we prepare for Europe. We’ve got some targets and this weekend is about preparing and working towards them.”

Scotland opened their account in the third minute when Emma McGregor darted in from the left hand side of circle to slip the ball past the Welsh goalkeeper to make it 1-0.

With no real attempts on goal in the remainder of the first half, the two sides contested a tight affair with defences coming out on top.

However, Scotland gained a penalty corner early in the second half and Susan Graham’s attempt on goal was well saved by the Welsh ‘keeper. Wales responded with a penalty corner in the 48th minute but the Scots defended well and the danger cleared.

Defences again came to fore for most of the second half, but Graham did force a double save from in the 65th minute before the two sides played out the match to finish 1-0.

 

 

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