Football Ferns fall to Scotland

The Football Ferns will need to improve across the pitch in their second friendly against Scotland, after losing 2-0 yesterday.

The world No 23 Scots scored a goal in each half in wet conditions at Pinatar Stadium in San Pedro del Pinatar in Spain, as Andreas Heraf’s first full match in charge of the world No 19 Ferns didn’t go the way he would have hoped.

Heraf said afterwards that Scotland were the better team and deserved the win, but rued how his side made it easy for them to score.

‘‘We made two gifts, which we should not do on the international stage.

‘‘We made two mistakes in buildup play; playing centreback to centreback, we had a bad first touch, and we should not do that, but that happened.

‘‘We had a bit of bad luck with two set pieces, hitting twice the post, but altogether we did not really deserve it today. They were better, which we have to accept, and we have to learn from that, and we should not make those mistakes any more.’’

While the Ferns had chances to equalise after Jane Ross put Scotland in front in the 34th minute, they failed to take them, and when Lisa Evans doubled the Scots’ lead in the 78th minute, the result was sealed.

Looking forward to the second friendly between the two sides, tomorrow night [NZ time], Heraf said they would ‘‘want to improve in all areas’’, with a particular focus on playing out better from the back.

‘‘We should find a way to build up, because they play high pressing, they were man marking, so we could not come up.’’