So far, so good, for Shepherd

WORLD LEAGUE ROUND 1 – PRAGUE – 14-19 AUGUST
2012

REST DAY – MID-TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

Mission accomplished so far for coach Gordon Shepherd,
his Scotland women`s side have a perfect record after three pool
matches in the first round of the World League in
Prague. 

The Scots will already have qualified for the next round of the
competition – the top four advance – but Shepherd made it clear
that his ultimate target was to finish in top place.

The 2-1  victory against Belarus on Thursday was the
catalyst in Shepherd`s plans, the coach reckoned they were the
toughest challenge in the tournament.   “I am obviously
delighted with the three wins, the performances have been mixed,
but beating Belarus with five players missing from last year`s
European squad pleases me.”

The set piece goal scoring form of Catriona Ralph has been a
feature of Scotland`s success, the vice-captain has notched six
goals out of the team`s total of 19 so far.

Next up today is Italy who top the pool at the moment on the
same points as the Scots but with a superior goal
difference.   But the Italians have a difficult closing
programme against Scotland and Belarus.  Although Shepherd`s
charges beat Italy 5-1 in a pre-tournament friendly, the Scotland
coach is taking nothing for granted.

“Italy will be a tough game, they have also won their three
opening games and played in the A division of the Europeans last
summer.   But we will be able to be more expansive in our
game due to their style,” Shepherd said.

A victory against Italy would almost certainly assure the Scots
of top spot as the last game is against France on Sunday,
they have lost all three games so far, conceding 20 goals
in the process.

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