Herald Scotland
FIH WORLD LEAGUE ROUND 1
SCOTLAND 9
MOROCCO 0
Scotland’s men made their presence felt in Lousada, Portugal, with a more than comfortable victory in the opening pool match of the first round of the World League, writes Craig Madden.
It took them 28 minutes to make the breakthrough as the Moroccans played a nine-man defence and Scottish frustration was exacerbated by hitting the post four times and missing two penalty corners. At the third setpiece, though, Dan Coultas switched the ball to Niall Stott who lashed it home. Within two minutes, a Chris Nelson shot in the circle was deflected home by Gavin Byers then, at another penalty corner switch, the ball was passed to Kenny Bain who converted with ease.
With the pressure off, they scored almost at will in the second half. The fourth was possibly the pick of them, Chris Grassick waltzing round three defenders and lobbing the goalkeeper. Bain made the fifth with a dazzling run before passing to Alan Forsyth who marked his 50th cap – he is the youngest Scottish player to achieve the feat – by scoring with a crisp shot.
The Scots scored four goals in the final seven minutes as Moroccan heads dropped. A setpiece switch left Ian Moodie to score his first Scotland goal with a tap-in, then a driven cross was deflected home by Stott for 8-0. Stott provided the ninth, beating two defenders only to be chopped down by the third and Coultas fired his penalty shot into the roof of the net. With three seconds left, a long ball out of defence found Bain who drew the keeper and left Forsyth with a tap in. “Once we got going, we had 90% of possession, a dozen penalty corners and hit the post six times in total,” said Eugene Connolly, the Scotland manager.
n Scotland’s Olympians Laura Bartlett and Emily Maguire will be guests of honour at the girls’ youth inter-district tournament this weekend at Peffermill. On Sunday there will be two “meet the stars” sessions when players and spectators will hear about the Olympic experiences of both players.
n The deadline for applications for the three full-time coaches, sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, has been extended to October 1. The coaches will be attached to men’s clubs PSL Clydesdale and Grove Menzieshill and women’s side Granite City Wanderers for the next three years.
.
