Wyllie double ensures opening win for Scotland Women

 

Two goals from striker Ailsa Wyllie gave Team Scotland a 2-0 win over Malaysia in Pool B of the Women’s Hockey competition in baking sunshine at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.
The Dundee-born forward volleyed home a field goal nine minutes before half-time, before taking advantage of a poor defensive clearance to prod home from close range early into the second half.
The Scots, who sit third in the pool after today’s win, produced a dominant display in front of an enthusiastic home crowd, with Head Coach Gordon Shepherd pleased with his side’s performance, “Very happy with the performance, I thought the girls applied themselves for the whole seventy minutes.
“The concentration levels were immense, you can’t afford to give teams any opportunities and I think our keeper only had one touch in the whole game, and that comes down to the concentration of our defence.
“I thought we put real pressure on their back line, we got two nice goals and we could have scored a few more. We had plenty corners, they didn’t quite come off today a real positive display and something to build on for the tournament.”
Scotland Captain Linda Clement added, “It felt brilliant out there, the crowd was phenomenal.
“We concentrated hard and we got the result and the performance. We had a little taster of what the home crowd would be like in the Champions Challenge held in April but today was even better, the crowd was brilliant.
“Lots of positives to take from today, we had a lot of possession and many penalty corners so we will be looking to take our opportunities and improve our game going into the second game.”
The game burst into life after only five minutes, with Malaysian goalkeeper Siti Noor Hafiza Zainordin denying shots from both Nikki Kidd and Alisa Wyllie, before Sarah Robertson nly just missed out on connecting with Kidd’s cross inside the circle.
Zainordin was called into action only four minutes later, smothering the ball against the attentions of Ali Bell’s advances.
Captain Linda Clement had two chances before Scotland were awarded their first penalty corner in the 13th minute. The set play was worked from Susan McGilveray to Clement, whose shot wasn’t cleared but Wyllie couldn’t get enough behind the ball to trouble Zainordin.
Vice-captain Cat Ralph was next to try her luck from a penalty corner, but the Malaysian defence was quick to her shot and the danger was cleared from the circle.
However, the home side finally earned the breakthrough in the 26th minute. A Ralph shot was deflected into the path of Leigh Fawcett, whose strike was parried by Zainordin, only for Wylle to reach first and thump the ball home with a volley for the opening goal.
Kidd almost made it 2-0 just before half-time, but again Zainordin was alive to repel the Canterbury midfielder’s attempt from a penalty corner.
The national side were not to be denied their second goal for much longer, and the doubled their lead five minutes into the second half.
Kidd found Nikki Lloyd in space on the right, who fed the ball to Wyllie. The Grove Menzeshill striker’s first attempt at a cross was blocked by Zainordin, but Wyllie was able to outstretch a stick and batter the ball into the goal.
Malaysia’s first real shot on goal was registered in the 41st minute, Nuriani Rashid Abdul’s effort being easily blocked by Scotland goalkeeper Amy Gibson.
Three penalty corners were awarded in quick succession to Scotland in the 45th minute, Vikki Bunce being denied from the first two set-plays before Aileen Davis found no way past the dominant Zainordin.
A third goal almost came in the 49th minute, with Wyllie and Bell both just missing out as Scotland turned the screw.
Kidd saw her penalty attempt just flash wide of the post in the only other goal-mouth action before full-time.
Australia provide Scotland with their next challenge on Sunday, but Shepherd’s priority was ensuring his players cooled off after a match in the baking sunshine,
“First and foremost, it’s about recovery for the players”, said Shepherd. “They put in a touch shift out there. As much as they are a very fit group, they need to recover. We already have a plan in place for Australia and we’ll go over a few things tomorrow in a light training session. We will go out to try and win that game on Sunday.”

Two goals from striker Ailsa Wyllie gave Team Scotland a 2-0 win over Malaysia in Pool B of the Women’s Hockey competition in baking sunshine at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.

The Dundee-born forward volleyed home a field goal nine minutes before half-time, before taking advantage of a poor defensive clearance to prod home from close range early into the second half.

140710 SCO WAL W17

(Scotland’s Ailsa Wyllie, seen here in action against England, scored twice against Malaysia. Photo Credit: Ady Kerry)

The Scots, who sit third in the pool after today’s win, produced a dominant display in front of an enthusiastic home crowd, with Head Coach Gordon Shepherd pleased with his side’s performance, “Very happy with the performance, I thought the girls applied themselves for the whole seventy minutes.

“The concentration levels were immense, you can’t afford to give teams any opportunities and I think our keeper only had one touch in the whole game, and that comes down to the concentration of our defence.

“I thought we put real pressure on their back line, we got two nice goals and we could have scored a few more. We had plenty corners, they didn’t quite come off today a real positive display and something to build on for the tournament.”

Scotland Captain Linda Clement added, “It felt brilliant out there, the crowd was phenomenal.

“We concentrated hard and we got the result and the performance. We had a little taster of what the home crowd would be like in the Champions Challenge held in April but today was even better, the crowd was brilliant.

“Lots of positives to take from today, we had a lot of possession and many penalty corners so we will be looking to take our opportunities and improve our game going into the second game.”

The game burst into life after only five minutes, with Malaysian goalkeeper Siti Noor Hafiza Zainordin denying shots from both Nikki Kidd and Alisa Wyllie, before Sarah Robertson nly just missed out on connecting with Kidd’s cross inside the circle.

Zainordin was called into action only four minutes later, smothering the ball against the attentions of Ali Bell’s advances.

Captain Linda Clement had two chances before Scotland were awarded their first penalty corner in the 13th minute. The set play was worked from Susan McGilveray to Clement, whose shot wasn’t cleared but Wyllie couldn’t get enough behind the ball to trouble Zainordin.

Vice-captain Cat Ralph was next to try her luck from a penalty corner, but the Malaysian defence was quick to her shot and the danger was cleared from the circle.

However, the home side finally earned the breakthrough in the 26th minute. A Ralph shot was deflected into the path of Leigh Fawcett, whose strike was parried by Zainordin, only for Wylle to reach first and thump the ball home with a volley for the opening goal.

Kidd almost made it 2-0 just before half-time, but again Zainordin was alive to repel the Canterbury midfielder’s attempt from a penalty corner.

The national side were not to be denied their second goal for much longer, and the doubled their lead five minutes into the second half.

Kidd found Nikki Lloyd in space on the right, who fed the ball to Wyllie. The Grove Menzeshill striker’s first attempt at a cross was blocked by Zainordin, but Wyllie was able to outstretch a stick and batter the ball into the goal.

Malaysia’s first real shot on goal was registered in the 41st minute, Nuriani Rashid Abdul’s effort being easily blocked by Scotland goalkeeper Amy Gibson.

Three penalty corners were awarded in quick succession to Scotland in the 45th minute, Vikki Bunce being denied from the first two set-plays before Aileen Davis found no way past the dominant Zainordin.

A third goal almost came in the 49th minute, with Wyllie and Bell both just missing out as Scotland turned the screw.

Kidd saw her penalty attempt just flash wide of the post in the only other goal-mouth action before full-time.

Australia provide Scotland with their next challenge on Sunday, but Shepherd’s priority was ensuring his players cooled off after a match in the baking sunshine,

“First and foremost, it’s about recovery for the players”, said Shepherd. “They put in a touch shift out there. As much as they are a very fit group, they need to recover. We already have a plan in place for Australia and we’ll go over a few things tomorrow in a light training session. We will go out to try and win that game on Sunday.”

Team Scotland: Amy Gibson, Vikki Bunce, Morag McLellan, Ali Bell, Becky Ward, Cat Ralph, Sarah Robertson, Linda Clement (c), Ailsa Wyllie, Leigh Fawcett, Nikki Kidd, Susan McGilveray, Nikki Llloyd, Nicki Skrastin, Emily Maguire, Aileen Davis.

Please visit Glasgow 2014 Hockey Competition for all fixtures, results and pool standings.

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