England smash Scotland, 2-0 for a sweeping series: Hockey News
England hockey team scored two very fine victories against Scotland in a series of two friendly matches which were played at Lilleshall in accordance with preparation for the Champions Challenge which is going to be conducted in France and the European Nations
Trophy which will be carried out in Ukraine later on in this summer.
In first of the two match series, the English team played brilliantly and crushed their opponents in a spectacular style and winning it by five goals to nil. Just before start of the match, one of the Scottish key players, Ian Scholefield faced some problem
with his ankle, leaving his side on England’s mercy. The English team played some sensational hockey in first half of the match scoring four goals at regular intervals. Scotland too found some chances, but failed to convert them into goals, leaving the score
4-0 at the end of first half.
In the second half Scotland played relatively some better hockey and had two good chances of scoring, but Alan Forsyth and Gareth Hall could not capitalise. Just before two minutes in the close of the play, England scored fifth and last of the match, score
remained 5-0 at the end.
“We showed a more character in the second half, but we cannot afford to give teams such an easy times in early stages,” Eugene Connolly, the manager of Scottish side stated his views.
In the second game, clearly a lot of improvement was seen in the Scottish side as they gave a very tough fight to the English side. During the first half Scotland dominated the play and their goal-keeper, Mark Fulton, looked like a mere spectator for most
of the time. The Scottish side held their grip and control on the ball from the start. In the very first minute they came near scoring the goal, but it was the English goal-keeper who blocked the opportunity with an excellent save. However, they continued
to try and it was nearly five minutes later when Gordon McIntyre received a beautiful pass from Gavin Byers and found no problem in throwing it in the net. The English side tried to control the things in its favour while the Scottish kept on creating more
pressure. Moments before the end of first half, the English side took advantage of the penalty stroke and succeeded in levelling the score.
“There were a lot of positives in first half, we kept possession well and looked good, but we allowed the English back into the game just before half time, which they did not deserve. England were the better side in the second half, but it was a much better
performance than the first game,” Eugene Connolly, the manager of Scottish team stated after the match.
The second half was clearly the England’s show and it looked like the Scottish players had lost their stamina to match the speed of the English players. In 45th minute, ten minutes after the start of the play, English team was awarded a penalty
corner and they guided the ball towards the goal-post quite nicely making the score 2-1.
In the 55th minute England scored their third and final goal of the match. The Scottish side made some dare efforts to get back in the game, but remained unlucky as could not score. The match finished at 3-1 for England.
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