Scots take silver after first defeat

Scotland suffered their first defeat at the European Youth Championships 11 in Cardiff when they went down 6-3 to Russia in the final and had to settle for silver.

With both teams relaxed having already gained promotion to Europe’s top flight, the nine-goal showpiece provided a fitting climax to the tournament.

Scotland coach Andrew Brogdon said: “It was a great game of hockey, absolutely worthy of any final. I couldn’ t have asked for more from the players. They gave it absolutely everything they had.

“The only difference was that Russia were a little bit more clinical than we were, but on another day it could have been us who won the match.”

The Scots youngsters certainly had a mountain to climb with the Russians three up at the interval, Igor Stepanenko and a double by Alexey Sobolevskiy did the damage. Wildcats’ Andrew Mcconnell pulled one back with a rocket shot at a penalty corner, but soon after Artur Kazanchian restored the Russians’ three-goal lead.

Alex Riddell’s rebound strike at another set-piece reduced the deficit to 4-2 and gave the Scots a glimmer of hope. Scotland seemed on a roll when a Mcconnell pass found Jamie Golden at the near post and the Grove Menzieshill striker calmly touched the ball past the keeper.

As the Scots pressed for the equaliser, Russia countered with two further goals by Denis Starienko and Vladislav Kazantsev to seal the gold medal in a nine-goal thriller.