Scotland Women take the gold medal in Poznan and promotion to the Euro ‘A’ division

Scotland coach Gordon Shepherd took his charges to
Poznan with a gold medal and promotion to Europe`s elite as the
targets, as was dutifully achieved with a controlled and
disciplined 2-0 win over Belarus in the final of the EuroHockey
Nations Championship II.

Having celebrated defender Leigh Fawcett`s 50th cap, the Scots
got down to the business of dominating the proceedings and Holly
Cram almost provided the lead as her deflection beat the goalkeeper
but narrowly went wide of the target.

Within a minute the Scots were ahead; Vikki Bunce caught the
defence sleeping with a quickly taken free hit, she moved directly
into the circle and beat the keeper with a vicious low shot.
 Scotland continued to make chances as Nikki Kidd twice had
her effort thwarted by the keeper before the break.

After half time, Belarus came out intent on getting back into
the game and had a couple of early penalty corners. The first was
saved by keeper Abi Walker and the other was blocked and finally
cleared by Fawcett.

The Scots then sealed the gold medal midway through the half. A
pulsating move up the left involving Kidd, Sam Judge and Ali Bell
fed the ball on to Cram whose shot was stopped illegally on the
line by a defender.  Catriona Ralph`s effort from the spot
seemed to have been blocked by the keeper but the ball emerged to
squirm over the line for the crucial second goal.

The Scots were content to play out the remainder of the contest
to achieve well deserved promotion.  To add icing to the cake,
the Scots were given the fair play award and Walker the goalkeeper
of the tournament.

Afterwards, a very happy Gordon Shepherd said:

“We’re delighted to have won and got promotion to the ‘A’
division. It has been a very hard and long road but we’ve succeeded
in reaching our target. We learned from the pool match against
Belarus and produced an excellent performance today. We started a
bit slowly in the competition but got the right result. We’re over
the moon and will enjoy the celebrations tonight.”

Delighted to have won and got promotion to the A
division – has been a very hard and long road but we’ve succeeded –
we learned from the first match against Belarus and produced an
excellent performance today. We started a bit slowly in the
competition but got the right result. We’re over the moon and will
enjoy the celebrations tonight

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