Scottish women unlucky not to score against South Africa

Heartache for Scotland Senior Women who lost 2-0 to South Africa in the opening match of the Investec Cup in London.

Both sides started strong, with Scotland taking the edge and was awarded a penalty corner in the first five minutes of play. A classic Nikki Kidd drag flick was denied by the South African keeper. Sarah Robertson made a fine run down the left to pass the ball in the D only to be unlucky in the ball not finding a player on the other end.

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(Aileen Davis awarded her 50th cap for Scotland presented by head coach Gordon Shepherd and Team Manager Susie Elms. Photo taken by Ady Kerry)

Twenty minutes gone and South African Kathleen Taylor takes the lead after Amy Gibson making a fine save but not fully clearing the ball, Taylor knock it over Gibsons head to take the lead, 1-0.

End to end play right up until the half time whistle with Scotland unlucky not to convert any goal chances. Second half South Africa started the stronger side pushing the Scottish defence however the Scots didn’t tire and cleared the ball well with Gibson making some fantastic saves.

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(Emily Maguire rewarded for her 100th cap for Scotland presented by head coach Gordon Shepherd & Team manager Susie Elms. Photo taken by Ady Kerry)

It wasn’t long until Scotland came back onto the ball with Becky Ward playing well in the defence, after many chances on goal Scotland finally got the ball into the back of the net. However the goal was disallowed due to the whistle being blown beforehand. South Africa were straight back on the counter attack with Taylor netting her second to give South Africa the lead.

It was a thrilling game with a great performance from the Scotland women, head coach Gordon Shepherd couldn’t be more pleased with his team; ‘It was a good performance for most of the game, there were areas of the game where we should have influenced more and we backed off slightly. We had a slight problem in getting the ball out for a small period of the game but ultimately happy with the performance. The performance was the most important not the result, yes it is not nice to lose.

‘Frustrating the two goal disallowed but it’s great we created them and many others, over all it was a good performance. Looking ahead of tomorrow we will prepare like any other game, Wales are a tough opposition and we won’t underestimate them. Our biggest focus is to just focus on us not anyone else.’

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