Scottish Women defeat Belarus 2-1 for gold medal in EuroHockey Nations Championship II in Poland
Women’s EuroHockey Nations Championship II has been concluded at University of Physical Education, Ul Krolowej Jadwigiin in Poznan, Poland on Sunday, August 14 where the Scottish Women’s hockey team snatched the gold medal after defeating their Belarusian
counterparts, who remained undefeated throughout the tournament, by 2-0 in a nerve-racking game of hockey. With the victory the Scottish Women have qualified for the 2013 Women’s EuroHockey Nations Championship.
In their previous Pool match in the event the result was opposite as the Belarusian Women battered the Scottish ladies by 2-1 in a nail biting finish but in the final the Scottish dominated their rivals in a fine style to take the revenge of their early
defeat.
As the result indicates, it was a hard fought game between the sides where the Scottish Women remained more dominant in the entire match by scoring a single goal in each of the two halves whereas their opponents remained scoreless throughout the entire course
of time.
The Scottish ladies started the first half on a positive mode by making a number of attacking moves early in the first thirty five minutes but they had to wait till the half way into the first half when Holly Cram almost brought the required result but her
shot went wide of the target. However moments after, the Scottish Women succeeded in opening their account when Vikki Bunce scored a marvellous field goal in the 16th minute and put Scotland ahead of their opponents by a single strike. The remaining
part of the first half also saw some efforts by both the teams but no further strike was made till the interval.
In the second half there was even a more tough battle between the sides that looked desperate to score the goals. The first twenty minutes in the second half were also scoreless but it was Scotland once again with who ticked the board in the 57th
minute after winning a penalty stroke. Catriona Ralph made no mistake in doubling their lead that lasted till the end.
The coach of the Scottish Women looked very pleased with the efforts of his athletes throughout the tournament.
"We're delighted to have won and got promotion to the 'A' division. It has been a very hard and long road but we've succeeded in reaching our target. We learned from the pool match against Belarus and produced an excellent performance today," Gordon Shepherd,
the head coach of the Scottish national Women’s hockey team, pleasantly stated his views after the match.
The Scottish team put in a tremendous effort as they defeated Belarus 2-1 for the coveted gold medal. It will be interesting to see how the Scottish Women carry their winning momentum forward into their next match-up.
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