Scotland women got their three-match series against Wales in Cardiff off to a winning start with a 3-1 victory. There were seven debutants in the young side who will take to the pitch for their second contest against Wales tomorrow at 2pm.
It was a defensive start to the contest by the young Scots side, who took time to settle into the contest, but they looked solid.
Scotland won a penalty stroke when a penalty corner effort struck a Welsh foot on the line, but Katie Birch’s effort from the spot prompted a fantastic save by Ella Jackson as she directed the flick onto the crossbar.
The miss from the spot seemed to spark new life into the Scots and they went on the offensive, and Scotland soon broke the deadlock through Ava Wadsworth.
Wadsworth skilfully worked her way to the baseline and fired a shot, which found its way past Jackson from a tight angle, on the brink of half time.
With a change of press Scotland began to pile on the pressure in the second half and Wales keeper Lauren Roberts produced some heroics in goal.
The final quarter saw Scotland deservedly add two to the tally courtesy of Fran Lonergan and Zara Kennedy.
Lonergan’s goal came courtesy of a sublime penalty corner strike into the bottom left corner, while Kennedy tore through the centre of the Wales defence before finding the net through the keeper’s legs.
Maddie Boyes came on in goal for her debut in the closing stages, and produced a tremendous save, but couldn’t deny Livvy Hoskins from the rebound as she secured a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the match.
The young Scotland side clocked up a solid 3-1 win away from home with two games of the series to go.
Head Coach Chris Duncan said, “I’m happy with the performance, there’s lots to be pleased about. We are a young side who took a little bit of time to settle, but I’m really pleased with how we settled down and went onto play some good hockey.
“We looked more like ourselves in the second half, and it’s great to see this young side learn how we play as a nation. I’m looking forward to the second game tomorrow and building on the good work we’ve done already in this camp.”
