Scottish U-18 girls defeat Spain by 2-1 in Volvo Euro Hockey U18 Championship
The Scottish junior girls defeated their Spanish counter-parts by 2-1 in a Pool C match at the Volvo Euro Hockey U18 Championship on July 16, played at SV Kampong, Laan van Maarschalkerweerd, in Utrecht, Netherlands.
The match was played in a very tight mode as both teams had early scoring chances, but could not utilise on those opportunities and had to fight a tough battle against each other throughout the match to steal the victory. Both sides made a single strike
in the first half, while Scotland scored the winning goal in the second half.
"This was an excellent display by the girls but France`s surprise win over Belgium put a spanner in the works. We now have to beat the French by three goals in the final game to guarantee our safety in the top level, otherwise we will have to hope for
a favourable result in the other game between Belgium and Spain," Colin Clarke, coach of the Scottish junior girls stated after the match.
The first half started with the dominance of the Scottish girls who controlled the ball quite well and put pressure on Spain, but they remained unlucky on a number of occasions. They also had a considerable number of penalty-corners, but the Spanish goal-keeper
did a tremendous job to protect the goal-post. However, it was the Spanish side who took an early lead by scoring the opening goal on a penalty-corner, but their lead was demolished by the Scottish girls just moments before the interval, when Heather Lang
converted a beautiful pass from Sarah Robertson into the equaliser. The score remained 1-1 at interval.
In the second half, Scotland once again showed their determination for the victory and tried very hard to take the lead. They put more and more pressure on the Spanish defence line and that pressure brought the desired result for the Scottish girls, when
Kirsty Hill made the most important strike of the match and thus put her team ahead of their rivals by a single goal, which lasted until the end.
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