Scotland Women finished a credible fourth in the Cyprus Cup after losing on penalties to South Korea yesterday.
There were two changes to the side which started against Australia, with the Glasgow City pair of Nicola Docherty and Jo Love coming in for Ifeoma Dieke and Emma Mitchell.
Fay twice rescued her side in the opening 15 minutes whilst at the other end Jenny Beattie and Kim Little both had attempts on target without troubling Kim Jung-Mi in the South Korean goal.
South Korea took the lead after 63 minutes with striker Yoo sending a shot past Fay from the edge of the box then twice came close to adding to their lead, with Fay again making vital saves, before Scotland finally levelled the scores.
Beattie hit the bar and substitute Joelle Murray had a shot cleared off the line before Little ensured it would be an unbeaten tournament with a shot across Kim and into the far corner.
South Korea defender Shin Damyeong was then shown a straight red for a bad foul.
Rachel Corsie scored Scotland’s first penalty in the shoot-out, but Kim then saved from Jane Ross, Beattie and Megan Sneddon and the Koreans took third place in the tournament although Scotland’s fourth place equalled their previous best in 2011. Striker Lisa Evans won the award for top scorer in the tournament.
France won the tournament when they beat England 2-0 in the final in Nicosia.
Afterwards Anna Signeul said “That was a hard game. To persist until the end and score the goal shows great character – we are becoming a team of winners and that makes me so proud.”
“South Korea really wanted to win the game. They were tough and they were fast.
“We wanted to keep a clean sheet, but although we didn’t quite manage it Gemma Fay made some great saves.
“We have Ian McCaldon, the goalkeeping coach, to thank for that. He has been working so hard with Gemma – and she has been open minded and taken on board a lot of things.”
Scotland (4-4-2): Fay; Brown (Black 75), Corsie, Beattie, Docherty; L Ross (Sneddon 64), Little, Love (J Murray 82), Lauder (Mitchell 70); J Ross, Evans (Richards 90+1)
Referee: L Andersson (Sweden)
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
