Hockey News  

Scots fall at the last

In the final minutes of their match this (Wednesday) morning, Scotland’s U21 men fell 3-2 to Poland after a respectable push that saw them briefly equalise in the last ten minutes.

Scotland need to win their remaining matches in order to stay up in the championship division and to qualify for next year’s World Cup.

Poland started quickly and were up two by the end of the first half.  In the last ten minutes it was Ross Stott (Kelburne) who scored from open play to get the Scots on the board followed by a penalty corner from 16-year-old Josh Cairns (Kelburne) in the 65 minute.
 
But the Poles pulled one out from a breaking run in the final minutes to pull ahead 3-2, eliminating Scotland’s chances to reach the semi-finals.

Manager Tom Johnston said: “We pushed in the second half and added pressure to equalise at 2-2 but in the final minutes they had a break and scored from open play. Everyone is disappointed, we’re gutted; but we’ve got to pull ourselves up and get ready for England and Austria.”

Today’s defeat comes after a promising performance against Poland in test matches earlier this month where Scotland took the series with high score lines.

Scotland and Poland are both eliminated from the semi-finals leaving Germany and Belgium to play at 12:15 for first place in pool B.  Austria and England, both with zero points in pool A, play today at 17:00.  Scotland’s next game will be against pool A’s third place team, either Austria or England, at 12:15 Friday.