Stott in search of gold

EUROPEAN JUNIOR NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIPS 11 – ALEKSIN
(RUSSIA) – JULY 15-21.

 Dave Stott wants to leave his post as coach of
Scotland women`s under 21 squad on a high note by winning the
European Junior Nations championships 11 in the Russian city of
Aleksin, and thereby gain promotion back into the elite `A`
Division.

“I want to finish with a gold medal, although I
would settle for promotion, but it`s not about me it`s about the
team, and I believe we can do it,” said a confident Stott.

The Scots youngsters were relegated from the top division two
years ago in Lille, they failed to win a game until the ultimate
match  against France, by that time too little too late.

Following the withdrawal of both Italy and Wales, the tournament
has been altered to a league format, so the Scots will play the
Czech Republic, Ukraine, Austria, Lithuania and finally hosts
Russia, with the top two being promoted to the top flight in two
years time.  

But Stott admits he knows very little about most of the
opposition: “I don`t have anything on the other teams, except the
Czechs, but most Eastern European teams in the competition will
play very defensive, so we will have to dictate and create the
play.  But the real risk is the counter attack, so we have
deployed defensive strategies against this style of play.”

Stott reckons that Russia and Ukraine will be the teams to beat,
but the Scots open against the Czech Republic and the coach claims
to have a handle on their strengths and weaknesses.   His
charges played two test matches against the Czechs in Prague at the
beginning of June and won both 3-2, then went on to draw 4-4 with
the Czech senior side.   So Stott should be confident of
three points in the first match.

Even with a limited budget, Stott`s squad have managed to play
21 build-up games for Russia and the coach is satisfied that the
tactics should be in place, including scoring goals from both
outfield and penalty corners.     In that
department Stott will be relying on the striking skills of Nicola
Skrastin, Sarah Robertson, Lucy Lanigan, Stephanie McInally and
Fiona Bruce along with Ali Howie and Nikki Mollison from set
pieces.

But Stott is fully aware that achieving promotion from Europe`s
second league will be far from easy.   “We will certainly
need to increase our game tempo and the physicality of playing
Eastern European sides will also be an issue – we need to punch
above our weight and play in the big ring,” he said.

The fact that five of his squad – Howie, Robertson, Skrastin
along with Kerry Hall and goalkeeper Nicki Cochrane –  have
been involved in the Scotland senior squad and gained their first
caps in the five recent test matches against South Africa, should
give Stott`s squad that extra bit of grit that might make the
difference in Russia.   

Although Stott is confidence of his squad`s fitness, he is
nonetheless concerned about two debilitating factors.  
“The temperatures in Aleksin are currently around 30 degrees and we
play all our games in the heat of the afternoon – the Scottish
summer has offered little in terms of acclimatisation this year

“In addition, we will be playing five games in six days, that is
a pretty demanding schedule, so let`s hope our fitness is good
enough.”

The Scots youngsters open with the Czech Republic on Sunday, a
win here would be a real boost to the target of promotion set by
Stott.

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