Scotland women lose away to Spain in first test match of 2024

Spain 5-0 Scotland

Scotland women lost the first game of their 2024 programme 5-0 against a 7th in the world ranked Spain side, who are on the back of qualifying for the Olympic Games.

In their first game of the programme, it was a challenge for Scotland to get up to the early pace of the contest against their Olympic-bound opponents.

Scotland went one behind in the opening quarter through a penalty corner strike from the far castle into the bottom corner. 1-0.

In the second quarter Spain doubled their lead, taking advantage of a turnover to gain ground into the Scotland circle, and finish well.

A second penalty corner strike after half time saw Spain go 3-0 ahead, but Scotland began to get up to speed. Heather McEwan came close with a shot across goal that zipped just wide.

Then Georgia Jones did some great work on the baseline, but no sticks could connect with her pass across goal, and Spain emerged unscathed.

Katie Birch was looking strong at full back, and Jess Ross was doing a great job defensively and providing a ball carrying threat.

In the final corner, another penalty corner strike, and a goal from open play saw the hosts’ clock up a 5-0 win over the young Scots side, who grew into the game.

Head Coach Chris Duncan said, “Despite the score there were so many positives from this game. In the context of both programmes, where Spain have done lots of prep and come off the back of an Olympic qualifier, and we’re playing our first game with a lot of new, and young, players, we did a lot of things well. We were good at winning the ball, but naïve when we won it, but that will improve as the games go on.

“It was our first outing against a very good side, and a baptism of fire for the players getting their first taste of senior international hockey. The young players did well, and this is a great learning experience for them. We’re definitely a little undercooked to play a first game at this level, but you could see us getting used to the pace as we got into the second half. We’re looking forward to building on this performance in the games ahead.”

 

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