EuroHockey Junior (under-21) Championship II (men): Russia 2, Scotland 4 (in St Petersburg, Russia)
EuroHockey Junior (under-21) Championship II (women): Scotland 3, Turkey 0 (in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic)
Scotland coach Graham Moodie believed his players had quality and were improving with every game.
And they underlined that by defeating hosts Russia to move into the semi-final of the EuroHockey Junior (under-21) Championship II in St Petersburg.
The 4-2 scoreline came after Scotland had lost an early lead to go 2-1 down in 13 minutes but three unanswered goals each side of half-time secure the win.
It’s a major comeback after losing the first game 3-0 to Poland. Scotland followed up by thrashing Italy 5-1 which sets up a final four clash on Friday with France who topped Pool A with a perfect record of three wins and nine points.
Scotland were second in Pool B with six points from their three games, three points behind pool winners Poland who also won all their games.
Aidan McQuade (Grove Menzieshill, Dundee) provided Scotland with the perfect start from a penalty corner after two minutes.
But Georgii Arusiia levelled a minute later also from a penalty corner and ten minutes after that they went ahead through Oleg Kotkov.
Luke Cranney (Grange, Edinburgh) levelled after 32 minutes and James Nairn (Grange) fired the Scots ahead 13 minutes after that and Callum Mackenzie (Cannock) slotted the final goal after 54 minutes.
Goals from Laura Swanson (Edinburgh University), Emily Newlands (Watsonians) and Ellen Hutcheson (Edinburgh University) were not enough for Scotland’s under-21 women to scrape into the semi-finals of the EuroHockey Junior Championships II.
Coach Neil Menzies and the team finished third in Pool A after the 3-0 win over Turkey in the Czech Republic and now face a nervous clash with Ukraine on Friday with the threat of relegation looming.
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