Scots show character in second half but too late

Scotland women’s coach Gordon Shepherd gave his young fringe players the chance to stake their claim to the Commonwealth Games squad, but they went down 6-2 to Ireland in the second Test match in Banbridge yesterday.

After drawing the first game 1-1, with Dundee Wanderers’ striker Charlotte Watson on target, the Scots must now win the final match to draw the series.

The Scots were caught cold in the rain and they fell two behind in the first quarter to strikes by Naomi Carroll and Emma Russell. Worse was to follow when Kate Lloyd and Zoe Wilson made it four by the interval.

Scotland’s only chance came at a late penalty corner when Emily Dark’s tried to find Fiona Burnet for a deflection but the ball went wide.

Shepherd’s side took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half and a setpiece strike was illegally stopped on the line by a defender. Fiona Bruce converted from the spot to make it 4-1.

The scots dominated and made various other chances. At a penalty corner, Bex Condie scored with a powerful drag flick into the top left-hand corner.

Although further chances fell to Watson and Lucy Lanigan, the recovery failed to materialise and the Irish scored two further goals to seal a comfortable victory.

Shepherd said: “Ireland deserved to win the match, we had a poor first half and were punished for it. The players showed great character in the third quarter to play their way back into the match, and we had chances to score more, but we got picked off on the counterattack a couple of times at the end.

“There are a lot of young players in the team so this will be a learning experience and there are definitely positives to take from the character shown in the second half. We know where we need to improve.”