Scots still unbeaten in Dublin

FIH CHAMPIONS CHALLENGE

SCOTLAND 0  SOUTH AFRICA 0

Scotland again upset the odds by drawing 0-0 with South
Africa, a side nine places ahead in the world rankings, to maintain
their unbeaten record and guaranteed second spot in the pool table
at the FIH Champions Challenge in Dublin.   The result
means that the Scots are likely to play India in the
crucial quarter-final stages on Thursday.

In a fairly uneventful first half with the sides evenly matched
and few chances available at either end, Amy Gibson was still
called upon to make a couple of routine saves early on.  
Scotland`s best chance came in 15 minutes, the build-up was from
Sarah Robertson and Ailsa Wyllie, the ball was fed on to Sam Judge
but the Edinburgh University striker fired straight at the
goalkeeper.

Five minutes later Vikki Bunce won a penalty corner for the
Scots after waltzing past five defenders, but the South African
keeper produced an excellent save to deny Nikki Kidd`s powerful
drag flick.  In the final minutes of the half the lively Kidd
sent in crosses from both the right and left wings, but there were
no Scottish takers in the circle.

The Scots might have taken the lead in the first minute of the
second half, but Ali Bell`s fierce reverse stick shot was blocked
by the goalkeeper.  The game became tense and a few players
spent a couple of minutes in the sin-bin.   Gibson had to
be lively on a couple of occasions to keep the eager South African
forwards at bay, but at the other end Robertson and Wyllie combined
to send Bell through on her own, but her effort was smothered by
the advancing keeper.

The final chance to take the three points fell to Scotland at
their third penalty corner in the final minute, the ball was passed
left to Becky Merchant on her 50th Scotland cap, she passed it back
to Nikki Lloyd, and the resulting cross was deflected just wide of
the target by Linda Clement.

“I was delighted with the result and the team performance
against a good South African team, they carried out all my
pre-match instructions, and I thought the whole squad was
fantastic,” said a delighted Gordon Shepherd, Scotland`s coach.

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