Scottish Men’s team defeat Belarus 3-1 for semi-final spot of EuroHockey Nations Championship II
The Scottish Men defeat their Belarusian counterparts 3-1 in their final group B match at the EuroHockey Nations Championship II which is being played in Vinnitsa, Ukraine. The victory led the Scots to the semi-final along with Austria from pool B and they
will be up against Czech Republic today on August 13 to make it through to the final of the Championship.
The victory was much needed for the Scots as they held at 2-2 draw against Austria in their second match of the event after beating Ukraine, the hosts 2-1 in the opener.
Russell Garcia’s athletes played wonderfully throughout the match where they dominated their rivals from the starting whistle to the end. Especially in the second half in which they remained more clinical by scoring two goals while one of their goals was
scored in the first half whereas their opponents scored the solitary goal in the later part of the second half.
The first half started with a great action by the Scots as they found early way through to the Belarusian net just five minutes into the play when Alan Forsyth scored the opening goal for Scotland in the 5th minute with the help of beautiful open
play. The Scottish men continued with the same pace in the remaining time but the Belarusian defence did not allow them to further damage before the interval.
In the second half the Scottish athletes looked more aggressive in their approach and made a double blow by scoring two goals in a span of thirteen minutes. The Scottish team doubled their lead four minutes into the second half when William Marshall scored
a wonderful field goal in the 39th minute and put the Scots ahead by two goals. Scottish athletes did not stop their efforts at that, in fact they continuously kept their pressure up on the Belarus squad throughout the second half.
They scored their third goal almost in the middle of the second half when Alan Forsyth once again did the job for Scotland, again a beautiful goal. The Scottish team played aggressively and continued to dominate for most part of the match.
The Belarusian athletes also created their chances but those were not enough to answer the Scottish men. However, they scored their opening goal in the later stages of the second half when Vitali Zyshchyk put the ball into the Scottish net in the 57th
minute. The score lasted until the end. It will be interesting to see how the Scottish team will carry their winning momentum forward into their next match-up in the semi-finals of the tournament.
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