Chris Duncan wants Scotland’s senior women’s hockey team to end their EuroHockey Championship on a high before jetting home.
Friday’s come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over Ireland, ranked two places above the Tartan Hearts in the world, has fired the Tartan Hearts who are No 15 in the FIH rankings.
Scotland face France, ranked No 17, at 10.45 on tomorrow (SUN) in their final match in the Championships in Germany.
And West Lothian-based Duncan, Scotland’s head coach, said he was so proud of the team in the way they have adapted, learned, grown and kept believing during the star-studded tournament in Monchengladbach.
He added: “We have tried to take the game to every single game we have played.
“It has not worked at times, and that happened against Ireland. We dominated the first 45 minutes and we go a goal down, but their character I can’t praise enough.
“They stayed positive and stayed on the front foot. We battled our way back into the game, and we had to do it again, but I thought we were exemplary in the way we defended on the front foot and managed the game, the way that we countered with real impact and intent.
“We took the chances when they presented themselves. I am so delighted for the girls because this level is really hard. They have spent a lot of time preparing for it so to get a result like that against a team ranked above us at this stage is huge.”
France edged Scotland 4-3 in Edinburgh in a recent Test match, but Duncan stressed: “We are not done yet, that is the crucial message. We have one game to go and we want to take home one of our highest points returns from an A Division in recent memory.
“We have already claimed a win and a draw (1-1 with Spain) out here and we want a positive result on our last game and finish on a real high.
“Overall, it is all how we keeping moving forward as a team and that is our focus going into Sunday. We are delighted with this (the win against Ireland), and it was good, but we have one game left.”
Eve Pearson, Scotland’s woman of the match against Ireland, felt the narrow victory was deserved and she added: “We have proved we can compete with teams above us in the world.”
The Fife-born player said: “From the start of the match (against Ireland) we felt we could win and we were disappointed to go 1-0 down, but we brought ourselves back into the game and we deserved to win.
“We were clinical when chances came and this was a really professional performance and the way we have played since the start (of the championships) has given us a lot of confidence.”
Finally, congratulations to Scotland forward, Fiona Burnet, who is now a centurian having earned her 100th cap in Friday’s game against Ireland.
Alexandria-born Fiona now plays for Watsonians.
SMILES BETTER: Chris Duncan (left) and his assistant, Jimmy Culnane, share a joke in training. Picture Nigel Duncan
