China next for Scotland’s hockey women

Scotland women square up to China on Friday and Saturday in The Netherlands after back-to-back defeats to Australia.

Australia are ranked No 3 in the world and China No 11 and Scotland head coach Chris Duncan (pictured) said that the games against the highly-rated team from Down Under has helped his squad develop in many areas.

Duncan said: “We learned how challenging it is to go back-to-back against teams of Australia’s quality. We worked hard to try and be aggressive out if possession, to win the ball high up the pitch, but were caught out at times.

“This is all part of our journey and I am immensely proud of the players and staff for the mind set and approach they have shown. This leads us nicely into two tough tests against China this weekend.”

For the record, Scotland lost 2-1 and 5-1 to Australia in Eindhoven.