Hockey – Poland v Scotland, World League 2, Valencia

Two from two for Scotland

The second match in Pool B for Scotland was against Poland. The Poles had failed to impress in their match against Ukraine on Saturday, but, as ever, nothing is taken for granted and match preparation was as thorough as usual. Just as well as Poland were to prove a different prospect from Ghana.

The first few minutes were fairly even with Scotland probably edging it until a penalty corner award in the eighth minute gave Scotland their first clear shot at goal. And it was Robyn Collins – pictured practising in Day Two’s diary – who stepped up and fired the ball past the keeper with a well placed drag-flick into the bottom left corner. 1-0 to Scotland.

Five minutes later, having weathered a period of pressure from the Poles, Scotland had another PC, but the shot went wide.

The Scots kept the pressure on until the end of the quarter, but didn’t add to their tally.

The second quarter was all action with both sides having PC’s, the Poles coming close to scoring from one of theirs, but Scotland’s Kaz Cuthbert managed to clear the loose ball across the face of the goal to safety.

As the half came to a close Scotland were awarded another PC, but again failed to convert so the half ended 1-0 to Scotland.

The second half was more of the same, with play swinging first one way then the other, although, it’s probably fair to say that Scotland had the better of the half and certainly had more chances at goal but, despite gradually asserting dominance as the match progressed, both in terms of possession and territory, no further goals were scored and the match finished 1-0 to Scotland.

One incident of note, which could have had serious consequences, involved Scotland’s Nikki Lloyd. As she was reaching for a touchline ball, she was taken out from behind by Poland’s Natalia Wisniewska, via a neatly planted elbow to the back of her head. This incident went unpunished by the officials, but justice caught up as Wisniewska was green carded for foul play later in the game.

In the other Pool B match, Ghana and Ukraine fought out a 2-2 draw, thus bringing about a shoot-out, which Ghana won 2-1 to take their first win of the tournament.

Images from the match will appear here over the next few days