Team Scotland’s Men’s Hockey team stunned Wales to win in a dramatic comeback at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre, followed by the women’s team also triumphing over the same nation to set up a clash with England for a semi-final place.
Two first half field goals from Ali Bell and Linda Clement sealed a comfortable 2-0 win for Team Scotland’s women over Wales and the Scots now join home nations rivals England on six points in Pool B, setting up a mouth-watering showdown between the two sides on Wednesday morning, with the winners guaranteed a place in the semi-finals later this week. England lost 3-0 to Gold Medal favourites Australia earlier in the session.
Following today’s match, Scotland Head Coach Gordon Shepherd said, “Three points and a win were the most important thing to make sure we were on level points with England in the final game.
“We know we will have to win the game as they have a better goal difference than us, but from the start of this whole campaign, when we knew what the draw was going to be, we knew if we got our wins against Wales and Malaysia that 9am on 30th July was going to be D-day for us, an opportunity for us to do something that we had never done before and that’s to step into the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games.
“We are now in the position where the England game really matters, so it does get me excited. All our friends and family will be there. It’s the type of game you coach for, you want the big games and big prize at the end of it which is the semi-finals.”
Scotland captain Linda Clement added, “Delighted with the three points and we came here today with one sole focus and that was to win the game so we are going away happy.
“We will recover from this match and come out ready to put in a good performance against England. I believe we can win that match. They are a team that are higher ranked than us but the last few times we have met we have lost by just a single goal so will take faith and confidence from that. We know if we turn up and put a good performance in we can win that match on Wednesday.”
In the men’s tournament Team Scotland delighted a passionate and enthusiastic home crowd with a dramatic 4-3 win over Wales in Pool A. The Scots had trailed 3-1 at half-time following a hat-trick of penalty corner goals by Wales defender Richard Gay, with Scotland captain Chris Grassick getting a first half goal with a cracking run and finish low into the corner.
However, early second half goals from Gordon McIntyre and Daniel Coultas restored parity to the contest. A dominant second half display was eventually rewarded when midfielder Nicky Parkes claimed the winning goal nine minutes from time, sending the home support into raptures.
A relieved Scotland Head Coach Derek Forsyth said, “We played pretty well in the first half. However, the first five minutes included two poor mistakes and it cost us. Credit to the boys they never gave up and, even at 3-1 down, they said, ‘we are still in the game and we will go out and win this game,’ and we did just that.”
Goal-scorer and Scotland Captain Chris Grassick commented, “I thought about what it may feel like to score in front of a home crowd before the tournament and it was an absolutely awesome feeling. But it doesn’t matter who scored today it’s all about us winning the match. That was our baseline to win that game and we are delighted to have done that. We have aspects we all work to; that’s believing in ourselves, working together, sticking to our game plan.”
With great scenes of celebration on the park and in the stands following the full-time hooter, today’s result all but guarantees Team Scotland a place in the 7th/8th classification match later this week.
Before that, they face the might of World Champions Australia in their final Pool A match on Thursday
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Elsewhere on day five for Team Scotland…
WEIGHTLIFTING
Louise Mather was the final female Weightlifter to compete for Team Scotland at the Games. After lifting 75kg with her final attempt in the Snatch, her 96kg lift in the Clean & Jerk gave her a total of 171kg and 11th place in the competition.
BOXING
Birthday boy Aqeel Ahmed (49kg) breezed past Alumasa Matayo Keya with a unanimous points decision in the afternoon session at the SECC. In the evening session, local boy Joe Ham (56kg) put in an accomplished performance against Nadir Nadir to join six other Scottish boxers in the quarter-finals.
Kieran Smith (75kg) was the final Scottish boxer in action, coming up against England’s Anthony Fowler. Kieran boxed well throughout but couldn’t get the better of Fowler who picked up the unanimous decision.
SWIMMING
Scotland’s Mark Tully was left disappointed after finishing fourth in the final of the 50m Breaststroke on the penultimate night of swimming at Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
Despite having only taken up swimming seriously five years ago, Tully finished top of the Scots posting a time of 27.47. Ross Murdoch finished off his individual campaign in 6th, while Joe Welstead was 7th. Tully said: “I would rather have come last than come fourth. It was so close. I was pleased with how I swam last night but I just couldn’t put it in the bag and get on that podium.”
Hannah Miley surprised herself with two PBs from both the 800m Freestyle and the 200m Butterfly finals, in what was an exhausting evening for the 24 year old. Miley finished the events in 5th and 6th places respectively. Scotland’s Camilla Hattersley was 7th in the 800m Freestyle final.
Kathleen Dawson broke the Scottish Record again on her way to securing a place in tomorrow’s final of the 50m Backstroke. The 16 year old said of her efforts, “It was a great race; I’m very pleased with the result. My aim initially was to get to the semi-final, but the final is looking promising.”
Craig McNally and Ryan Bennett contested the final of the 200m Backstroke. McNally finished strongly in 5th while Bennett was 6th.
Richard Schafers finished off the 50m Freestyle semi-finals in 10th place overall while 18 year old Katie Armitage was 8th in the 100m Breaststroke final. She will return tomorrow as part of the 4x100m Medley Relay team.
Tomorrow sees the return of Stephen Milne in the final of the 1500m Freestyle, while Dan Wallace will compete in the 200m Individual Medley. Hannah Miley is also back in action in the 400m Freestyle.
Photo Credit: Jeff Holmes
Elsewhere for Team Scotland on day four…
ATHLETICS – TRACK AND FIELD
Team Scotland will have three women in the hammer final on Monday evening with Susan McKelvie, Rachel Hunter and Myra Perkins all making it into the top 12 in qualification on the opening day of track and field action at Hampden.
McKelvie missed out on making the last two Commonwealth Games by centimetres and she was delighted that one 62m throw was enough to earn her fifth place in qualifying, with her two other throws fouls.
“I am in the final and that was the target. Luckily, one throw was enough for me after waiting a few years to throw for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
“There were a few things wrong technically but I’ve qualified in fifth place and feel there is more to come. It is great we’ve three Scots in the final.”
Hunter reached 61.91, improving in each of her three throws. Myra Perkins only just squeezed through in 12th place with 57.70.
Luke Caldwell finished 13th in his 5000m final and was blown away by the noise of the home crowd – with the Oxford graduate due back in the 10,000m on Friday night.
Caldwell’s time of 13.43.75 was short of his PB for 5,000m as he was watched at Hampden by his 92-year-old grandfather and other family.
He said: “Those guys are pretty good! I feel I’m just reaching to get to the level – I can hang in there for about 4k and then the last 1k is tough.
“The reception was really quite amazing. I tried to tell myself it was just another race and I wasn’t really ready for the Hampden noise. It is just mad.
“I feel I am in decent shape and I’ll do it all again in the 10,000m on Friday.”
SHOOTING
It was back down to business today for Scotland’s Queen’s Pairs Bronze medallists in Fullbore, Ian Shaw and Angus McLeod, this time against each other in the Fullbore Individual event.
After three of the five distances both Scots are lying in the middle of the pack, but know the event’s true test comes when they shoot over the longer 900m and 1,000m distances.
“You can lose it at the shorter distances,” said Shaw, but it’s at the longer distances that it’s won.”
Tomorrow is a big day all round at the ranges, with Team Scotland’s Jon Hammond and Jen McIntosh both shooting in the 50m Rifle Prone disciplines in which they each won Individual Gold in Delhi.
Competing against Hammond will be Neil Stirton, with whom he also won Gold in the 50m Prone Pairs in 2010. Sarah Henderson will be the fourth shooter competing tomorrow in the 50m Rifle with the women’s event a straight final, whilst the men go through qualification first.
In Pistol, Alan Ritchie and Alan Goodall will be shooting in the 50m Small Bore event, whilst in Shotgun, Delhi Silver medallist Shona Marshall will be looking to go one further in Women’s Trap when she steps out to represent Team Scotland in her fourth Commonwealth Games.
BOXING
Charlie Flynn (60kg) got his campaign off to a great start today with a unanimous decision victory over the Australian boxer Nick Cooney. In his second fight in as many days, Josh Taylor (64kg) also collected a unanimous decision victory over Richarno Collin from Mauritius.
In the evening session, Reece McFadden (52kg) put in another stunning performance to defeat England’s Charlie Edwards, with yet another unanimous decision for Team Scotland.
Scott Forrest (81kg) fought a tough bout against David Nyika. Scott started well but couldn’t overcome the Kiwi.
Stephen Lavelle (91kg), fighting second to last, came up against Welshman Kody Davies in a spectacular contest. Stephen was composed and landed some big punches in all three rounds to take the unanimous victory.
Aqeel Ahmed (49), Joe Ham (56) and Kieran Smith (75) will get their Commonwealth Games campaigns underway at the SECC tomorrow.
NETBALL
Scotland’s netballers faced another tough challenge in Jamaica in the third match of the Commonwealth Games. The girls sit 4th in the pool after a 68-26 defeat, but will be looking to climb back up after the match against Malawi on Tuesday evening.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Georgi Black was Scotland’s second weightlifter to take to the Clyde Auditorium, with the local hero pulling in a huge crowd. With a firs lift of 75kg in the snatch and then an impressive 100kg in the Clean & Jerk, Georgi set a new Scottish record of a total 175kg to finish 9th.
RUGBY SEVENS
Scotland 7s were unable to add to Team Scotland’s medal haul at Ibrox today, losing out to South Africa in the medal quarter-finals, 35-12, and then England, in the fifth to eighth place play-off, 15-12, in the Glasgow 2014 Rugby Sevens tournament.
Despite fighting back in both games, with enormous encouragement from a capacity crowd, from three tries down in both first halves they were unable to rise to the occasion and were defeated by two better sides.
Mark Bennett did however show that he is the rising star of Scottish rugby with a brilliant display in both matches and two tries.
Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmell, who will now step down from his role, as planned, with the abbreviated national team, said: “We have been punished for our errors today. You cannot give England and South Africa the leads we gave them before starting to play. Momentum in the short game is massive and we’ve just not been able to establish that. We have done too little too late.
“On the bright side the atmosphere this weekend has been unbelievable and I have no doubt that Glasgow 2014’s Rugby Sevens tournament will have done wonders for the short game in Scotland. I know the players have given everything they have and it has been an honour for me to lead them this last time.
“I’d like to thank the huge Scottish support this weekend who continually got behind us.”
The Rugby 7s tournament has been played in-front of a World record crowd, with 171,000 (20,000 more than Melbourne) spectating across the two days of competition.
HOCKEY
Team Scotland felt the full force of Australia’s penalty corner expertise, conceding seven goals from set-plays during a 9-0 defeat in Pool B of the Women’s Hockey competition at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.
Jodie Kenny executed a hat-trick of penalty corner strikes, with Anna Flanagan also bagging a brace from short corner opportunities.
Ashleigh Nelson and Brooke Peris were credited with goals from penalty corners, while Emily Smith and Jade Taylor completed the scoring with a field goal each in the final concluding minutes of the match.
Scotland Captain Linda Clement was disappointed but upbeat with two more matches to come against Wales and England, adding, “Disappointed with today, I think we showed in spells that we can compete with a side like Australia but we didn’t sustain it in enough periods of the match to have enough impact on the game. We were just beaten by a very good side.
“Seven of the goals were from short corners that were very well executed. I don’t think there were any scrappy goals.
“We now need to draw line under the Australia result and focus on the Welsh game. We are still in this tournament and have suffered a heavy defeat but we will be looking to take things forward and be hoping to get a positive performance and a positive result.”
The Scots are positioned third in Pool B after today’s game, knowing that a win against Wales tomorrow will keep them in contention for a top-two finish and a semi-final place.
Australia have now qualified for the semi-finals after three wins, scoring twenty-two goals without reply in the process, and look very much the Gold medal candidates at this stage.
Photo Credit: Mark Shearman
With the rain beating down on Kelvingrove this morning World Champions Alex Marshall and Paul Foster stunned England’s Sam Tolchard and Andy Knapper in the Pairs semi-finals after picking up the decisive two points with the final two bowls to win 16-15.
The Scots had been 10-4 down before moving 14-13 ahead. Then they found themselves 15-14 behind after England collected two in the penultimate end.
With England on a one point advantage in the final end, with two of the bowls evenly spaced a foot in front of and behind the jack, Marshall delivered two perfect draws to win the game by a single point.
“That’s the best two bowls I’ve ever seen in my life – absolutely fantastic,” said Foster.
“There was a lot of pressure on Alex but he nosed it with his second bowl and Sam just failed. Then I said to Alex, ‘if there’s any man in the world who can draw this then you can.’ He said, ‘I’ll draw this’ and he did.”
Marshall was delighted with the win, saying:
“Without a doubt that was the best end I’ve ever played. Drawing two balls within four inches of the jack, I had almost a front toucher and a back toucher. To win it in a semi-final, when I went up with a game against me, is very pleasing.
“When you are playing against the Auld enemy there’s only one thing you are going to do and that’s celebrate. We are in the final and there’s room for improvement and we are looking forward to it.”
Scotland’s win lines them up against Malaysia in tomorrow’s final.
“Malaysia are one of the most improved bowling nations in the world and we are under no illusions, it’s going to be another hard game,” continued Marshall.
“But I’m quietly confident, if we both play the way we know we can play, we will win.”
What helped the pair today, and what will help them again tomorrow, is the support of the Scottish crowd.
“The home support is like an extra shot,” said Foster. “To play a Games in your home country is unbelievable and the crowd has been fantastic.
“Today they showed the spirit they had which gave us a wee extra boost. We want to put a good performance in for them as well.”
There was further drama in the Women’s Fours competition with Scotland, skipped by Margaret Letham, missing out on Bronze to New Zealand 21-15.
The game had been tight and entertaining throughout and, when all seemed to be going New Zealand’s way at 16-9, the Scots came back impressively bring the score to 15-16 for the final end.
The Scots got ahead and, with just a bowl apiece to play, they were holding ‘match up’. But New Zealand’s Mandy Boyd threw a spectacular all or nothing drive on a one bowl target.
Superbly executed it pushed the jack and two Scotland bowls into the ditch turning a deficit into a five shot end.
“We had great hopes to get the bronze there but the New Zealanders got a lot of rubs that went their way, so no complaints,” said a disappointed Letham.
“We tried our best out there but it wasn’t to be today. Sometimes you begin to think it’s not going to be your day, because every time she hit the head she got maximum results and we were left struggling to get our own to the white.
“But we start again tomorrow in the Pairs and Triples and we will pick ourselves up for that. Early night tonight and we’ll get up fresh tomorrow.”
Photo Credit:Patrick Hulbert
Scottish swimmers once again lit up Tollcross International Swimming Centre, with Erraid Davies winning Bronze in the Para-Sport 100m Breaststroke S9, Hannah Miley winning Bronze in the 200m Individual Medley and the 4x200m Freestyle Relay team wining Silver, bringing the medal tally from the pool up to nine.
Team Scotland’s youngest ever athlete, Erraid Davies, became the youngest ever medallist in Scotland’s Commonwealth Games history, after securing her Bronze medal. Shaving over four seconds off her personal best time in the heats, the 13 year old from Shetland was drawn alongside favourite Sophie Pascoe of New Zealand. Following a solid turn at the half way mark Davies began moving up the field, finishing strongly in another personal best time of 1:21.68, to take Bronze. Pascoe did indeed win Gold, and Madeleine Scott of Australia the Silver.
Following the race a near speechless Davies managed only a few words:
“I am really, really happy. I knew there were only seven of us in the event and while there was a chance, I didn’t really expect this. I came here wanting to do my best and I PB’d in both heat and final so that’s great.”
“I’ve been working hard on my starts and my turns for the past few weeks and that’s helped me a lot.”
In the very next race Hannah Miley showed her superb form, winning Bronze in the 200m Individual Medley. In an event she often says she struggles with, she swam a well-judged race, moving up a place with every turn. Lying in fourth at the final turn, Miley kicked hard on her freestyle leg over-taking her nearest rival to secure the medal, touching home in 2:10.74. England’s Siobhan O’Connor won Gold and Alicia Coutts of Australia the Silver.
Following the race, a jubilant Miley said:
“To be honest I thought the 400m Individual Medley was my only shot of a medal so I’m very surprised at getting a Bronze. You can tell by the grin on my face that I’m happy with that. It’s been an amazing meet and I don’t really know where that performance came from. I really thought I’d be outside the medals in 4th or 5th so to go one better than that and come away with some hardware is pretty special.
“After the 400m Individual Medley I wasn’t really targeting medals for the rest of the meet. I knew I would race hard but realistically I didn’t think I would be up there.
“I’m taking every race as an opportunity to step up, swim fast, get into finals and PB, that was what my goal was after Thursday. I’m physically in the best shape I’ve ever been and I’m taking advantage of that and really pushing hard. It showed in the 200m Breaststroke yesterday and it showed there.”
The final medal of the night was secured by the 4x200m Freestyle Relay squad of Dan Wallace, Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott and Robbie Renwick, all of whom swam superbly to claim Silver in a time of 7:09.18. Australia won in a Games record time of 7:07.38, with South Africa settling for Bronze in 7:10.36.
Following the race Robbie Renwick said:
“That’s my third Silver medal in this event after Melbourne and Delhi so I can’t complain. It was a fantastic effort from the boys; they set me up brilliantly for the final leg. I’m chuffed to bits and really proud.”
“We all swam a lot faster than we expected and we all knew we had a medal in us. We just didn’t know what colour that medal would be” added 17-year old Duncan Scott.
Stephen Milne added, “We knew the crowd would be behind us and we just wanted to do our best and raise our game. I think we delivered today.
Lead-off man, Dan Wallace, finished by saying, “I knew I wanted to put in a good performance. I’m very proud of all four of us right now.”
In other events, Katie Armitage, progressed through to tomorrow’s final of the 100m Breaststroke, while Corrie Scott and Kathryn Johnstone finished in 9th and 14th place respectively.
Mark Tully, Ross Murdoch and Joe Welstead will also be back in action with all three progressing to the final of the 50m Breaststroke.
Photo Credit: Ian MacNicol
Scotland proved the best of British at the Commonwealth Games marathon with Susan Partridge and Derek Hawkins in good form.
Partridge had no regrets at staying with the early pace before a group of seven was cut to three later in the race, and was satisfied that her tactics had given her a chance of the medals. She finished in 2.32.18 for sixth place, the third best placing ever achieved by a Team Scotland athlete in this event at the Commonwealths. Kenyan runner Flomena Cheyech Danie won in 2.26.45.
Susan said: “It was an unbelievable experience. Of course it would have been great to get a medal. But the way it was going today it wasn’t going to happen. I ran a reasonable race, I put myself in the right positions to take advantage of any openings, I tried to go with people when they were trying to drop me. So I’ve no regrets. There’s nothing I felt I did wrong.”
Hawkins for his part was only 11 seconds off his PB for ninth place in the men’s race at 2.14.15 with Africans and Australians ahead of the Kilbarchan AAC athlete, as Australian Michael Shelley won in 2.11.15. He said,
“I really enjoyed it today, it was quite blustery out towards Bellahouston Park which made the second part quite tough, but the crowd support was unbelievable.
“The second half of that second lap they were just so loud they managed to pull me through to the end. When the finish line was in sight it was a case of: ‘Thank goodness that’s over!’ I really enjoyed it, the noise was unbelievable, especially when they started banging the boards.”
It was a special day for Kilbarchan club-mate Hayley Haining, becoming the oldest Scottish athlete ever to appear in Athletics at the age of 42. Hayley finished in 13th place in 2.40.40 and was thrilled her son Elliot, four next week, was there to see it in Glasgow’s Pollok Park.
Joasia Zakrzewski was only one place below her fellow Scot in 14th in 2.45.29 with the doctor from Dumfries picking off athletes on the second lap.Ross Houston was 16th in the men’s race with the Central AC runner’s time of 2.18.42 very similar to Derek’s in terms of PB – only 14 seconds short of his previous best.
Photo Credit: Mark Shearman
Ross Murdoch had to fight hard to secure the Bronze medal in the 100m Breaststroke final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
With three of the four fastest swimmers in the world over the distance contesting the final it was always going to be a highly competitive race and it didn’t disappoint, with Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa setting the early pace. Hot on his heels were Murdoch, England’s Adam Peaty and New Zealand’s Glenn Snyders and at the 50m mark there was very little separating the field.
Peaty’s finish is strong, both he and Murdoch closing the gap quickly on van der Burgh and the race was on. Peaty timed his final push to perfection securing Gold in 58.94, a new Games record, while van der Burgh just managed to hold off the challenge of Murdoch to win Silver. Murdoch finished with the Bronze medal in 59.47, while team-mate Craig Benson swam well for 4th in 1:00.44.
Following the race, Murdoch said:
“I’m really pleased with that, it was a personal best for me, and coming off the back of the 200m it was a fantastic race for myself. I would like to say congratulations to Adam Peaty. He is the first British man ever to go sub 59, which is an amazing feat.
“I felt more relaxed with the Scottish people behind me. The support has been fantastic this week with everyone behind me. I’ve had loads of test messages and it’s turning out to be a fantastic experience, one I’ll never forget.”
When asked if winning the Bronze medal gave him as much pride as winning the Gold medal in the 200m Breaststroke final, Murdoch continued,
“I’m absolutely delighted. This is another medal I get to say I won for Scotland at a Home Games. I am over the moon with it.
“It was also a great honour to have my medal presented by David Wilkie. He spoke to me just before the ceremony and told me to keep going, keep pushing hard and maybe in a couple of years we’ll see something else.”
There was much expectation about the 200m butterfly final following Cameron Brodie’s superb swim in this morning’s heats. Drawn next to South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, Brodie tried hard to keep on the shoulder of the reigning Olympic Champion, who until the final 150m was lying in 2nd place, behind Australian Grant Irvine.
Le Clos, well known for a strong finish, powered his way down the last 50m taking Gold in a new Games record time of 1:55.07. Irvine won Silver and Sebastien Rousseau his second Bronze of the Games. Brodie himself finished in 4th place in 1:56.59 and, despite that being a personal best, was disappointed. He said,
“I said after this morning’s heats that I would go on and win tonight, I felt like superman. Right now I’m feeling a hell of a lot worse. I was only about 0.1 away from a medal and standing on that podium. I should be happy with that, but 4th place sucks!”
“Chad’s last 50m is his strength, my last 50m is my weakness so just to be close to him at 150m felt good but from there on in he just started to get away from me, as did the others.”
“I will go through to swim down and put a smile on my face and say that I’m pleased but in bed tonight there may be tears, I don’t know.”
Hannah Miley looked shocked at her 4th place finish in the 200m Breaststroke final. Ranked 10th before the event, Miley used her strength in the latter stages of the race to move through the field and challenge for a medal. She finished in 2:25.40, a new personal best and only 0.4 off the bronze medal.
Miley was back in action at the end of the night, racing along with Caitlin McClatchey, Megan Gilchrist and Rachel-Louise Masson in the 4x200m Freestyle final, where they finished 5th. Earlier in the day Lucy Hope and Rachael O’Donnell had helped secure the place in the final.
Craig Rodgie looked much happier after his Para-Sport 200m Freestyle S14 final and a 5th place finish. His time of 2:03.20 was just outside his personal best.
In other events Sian Harkin finished 7th in the final of the 50m Freestyle with a time of 25.31 after which she had to go and prepare for her semi-final of the 50m Butterfly in which she finished 15th overall posting a time of 27.52.
Jack Ness, Andrew McGovern and Rory Lamont finished 10th, 11th and 13th overall respectively after the semi-finals of the 50m Backstroke
Day four sees Team Scotland’s youngest ever competitor take to the blocks with Erraid Davies going in the Para-Swimming 100m Breaststroke SB9. Ross Murdoch will be back in action in the 50m Breaststroke where he will be joined by Mark Tully and Joe Welstead. Hannah Miley is also back in action in the 200m Individual Medley, while Camilla Hattersley and Aisha Thornton make their Team Scotland debuts in the 800m Freestyle. Corrie Scott, Kathryn Johnstone and Katie Armitage will all contest the 100m Breaststroke.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Scotland’s Para-Sport competitors put Lawn Bowls on the medal rostrum for the first time in the Glasgow Games and took the team halfway to its Bowls target of two medals.
At Kelvingrove, Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3 competitors Robert Conway and Irene Edgar, together with their directors Ron McArthur and David Thomas, won the Silver medal after losing 14-10 to South Africa.
The Scots had played the same South African line up twice in recent years with the tally equal at a win each. Today Scotland made two good comebacks, from 5-2 down and again trailing 10-6, on both occasions levelling the score.
But at 10-10 on the penultimate, fourteenth end South Africa scored a three from which the Scots did not recover.
“Coming back from 10-6 down I thought maybe we could put a wee bit of pressure on them at that point,” said Robert Conway.
“And at 10-10 I thought we had a good chance. But then the next end we lost a three and it was a silly three to lose.”
Having gone into today’s match knowing they were capable of beating the South Africans, the Scots admitted to being disappointed at missing Gold in front of the home crowd.
“I’m very thrilled with silver but a little bit disappointed in the way we played,” admitted Conway.
“Not taking anything away from South Africa who played well and deserved to win, but we didn’t really give South Africa a game and I think we could have played a lot better.
“I said at the first media conference in April that we would be delighted with any podium finish. As the time grew and as the preparation went on we got stronger and I then thought it’s going to be the top one, but I’m still delighted with second.”
The pair were thrilled both to be a part of Team and saw today’s game as a great opportunity to promote Bowls for the visually impaired.
“There are a lot of people who have never heard of visually impaired Bowls until this competition,” said Conway. “But hopefully after this week a lot more people will know about it.
“It’s great to be a part of the whole Team Scotland and it’s brilliant to have won so many medals, and it’s only day three.”
The opportunity to add more Bowls medals to the growing list of Team Scotland silver-ware continues at Kelvingrove tomorrow.
In the Men’s Pairs Paul Foster and Alex Marshall meet England in the semi-finals, after beating New Zealand 25-9 this afternoon.
The Women’s Fours; Claire Johnston, Lorraine Malloy, Lauren Bailey and Margaret Letham beat Jersey 16-14 in the quarter-finals to set up their semi-final meeting with South Africa.
Scotland’s Caroline Brown is out of the women’s Singles. She lost her quarter-final at the hands of Natalie Melmore, the Commonwealth Games champion from England, 21-20 in a match which could easily have gone either way.
“I’m delighted with my performance and I thought it was an excellent game,” said Brown, who is now looking forward to starting the Women’s Pairs event.
“It was nip and tuck most of the second half of the match and it went right to the wire. I’m gutted to lose out on a shot but it was a great game.”
The other Scottish loss of the afternoon was Scotland’s men’s Triples; David Peacock, Neil Speirs and Darren Burnett, who lost 19-12 in the quarter finals to Northern Ireland.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
For Drew Christie it was sweet moment knowing he was in a shoot off for a guaranteed Gold or Silver, having narrowly missed out on a medal with fourth place in the Skeet in Delhi in 2010.
An impressive qualification saw the 34-year-old from Dundee finish third equal behind Australia’s Paul Adams and eventual Gold medallist Georgios Achilleos, dropping only five clays in a run of form over the two days.
This form continued into a tight semi-final where little separated the six shooters but, with Christie keeping his cool to shoot his last seven without missing a bird, this was the edge needed to put him through to the shoot off for Gold.
A solid start for Christie saw his first three clays giving him an early lead over the Cypriot, before his form seemed to disappear with three consecutive misses. From then on Christie only managed three more hits in the remaining 13 clays whilst Achilleos put in a faultless performance to score a total 14 to Christie’s six and claim Gold.
For Christie the final was a bit of a blur. “I don’t remember the last of the Final,” said Christie. “It felt right but it just wasn’t right.”
But that didn’t take away from the excitement. “Gold would have been brilliant, but Silver is just as good,” said the local Shooting Instructor. “At Delhi it would have been good to win a medal but at a home Games is brilliant.”
There was also a medal for Full Bore shooters Ian Shaw and Angus McLeod who won Bronze in the Fullbore Rifle Pairs on a rain-swept Barry Buddon, where England took Gold and Canada Silver.
“The field is incredibly strong here so we’re shooting against the best in the world,” said Shaw. “The winners shot out of their skins. We knew they weren’t going to make many mistakes. It’s a good result and we’re very pleased.”
“I’m glad I came here and got a result,” added McLeod.
The pair now face each other in the coming days in the Individual competition which starts tomorrow.
Elsewhere it was disappointment for Jen McIntosh who was knocked out in the early stages of the 10m Air Rifle elimination final after a day where she never really found form. For younger sister Seonaid, who bowed out in the qualification stage in the same event, her first Games was an experience to remember.
“It’s been amazing. It’s really big,” said the 18-year-old. “I now know what the rest of the family have been going through.”
Elsewhere on the ranges, in Men’s 10m Air Pistol Alan Ritchie and David Owen didn’t make finals despite consistent shooting and in the Women’s 25m Pistol, Caroline Brownlie also failed to progress.
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The penultimate day of the Glasgow 2014 Track Cycling turned out to be a tremendous one with Team Scotland’s Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean taking Gold in the Para-Cycling Sprint B Tandem, their second Gold of the Games.
Despite finishing second in the qualifying stages just behind Australian pairing Kieran Modra and Jason Niblett, the Scottish pairing out-sprinted the Welsh duo, Matthew Ellis and pilot Ieuan Williams in two straight heats in the semi-final, putting them into their second Gold medal race of the Games.
In the first heat of the finals, the Scots fell behind and saw Modra and Niblett take the win. Fighting back in the second heat they made it an even 1-1 and the crowd roared as the pair took to the boards for the third and final time. You could see by their faces that the pair gave it their all and crossed the line in spectacular style to claim their second Gold.
Craig said, “It was painful, it was definitely a war of attrition out there. Both tandems, having raced yesterday, we’re dealing with a lot of fatigue, racing throughout the day, this morning. We’re pretty surprised we won the last two rides, they beat us pretty convincingly in the first ride of the final and we didn’t think we’d come back from that, but lo and behold, with the occasion we managed to lift it a little bit.”
Neil added, “As Craig said, fatigue was such a major issue there, for both tandems to be fair, and just the roar of that crowd, they were just roaring us round and I knew how close we were to achieving something that, if we didn’t win it we would have regretted it for the rest of our lives. So we just had to do it and I can’t thank the crowd enough for the support, I mean the noise is just sensational.
“I walked through the mixed zone after that first race and I seriously thought that was our day done and there was no way back – it’s amazing how pain disappears when you win. Just an amazing occasion and I’m lost for words to be honest with you.
“This is what we dreamed of, and certainly it’s certainly something we hoped to achieve, but the actual doing of it, the expectation levels, I just didn’t expect it to be like this.”
In the Women’s Sprint qualifying Scotland’s Jenny Davis and Elinor Richardson went on to the track one after the other, setting good times of 11.580 and 12.211 respectively. Davis’s time placed her 7th, sending her through to the quarter-finals. Richardson finished just outside a qualifying position in 9th. The fastest qualifying time came from Australia’s Stephanie Morton who set a time of 10.984.
In the quarter-finals Davis went head to head with recently crowned 500 metre Time Trial Gold medallist, Australia’s most successful female cyclist Anna Meares. Despite a brilliant effort from Davis, Meares won two out of two heats, putting Davis out of the competition.
In the 5th – 8th placing race a touch of wheels sent Davis crashing off her bike. However the ex-Judo player proved she was made of tough stuff and jumped back on to claim 8th position.
Elsewhere, Scottish riders Mark Stewart, Evan Oliphant and Alistair Rutherford all made it through to the final of the Points Race. In the final Stewart finished 10th, Oliphant 11th and Rutherford did not finish. Bruce Croall finished 8th in the 1,000 metre Time Trial and Charline Joiner, Eileen Roe and Katie Archibald missed out in the Women’s Scratch Race but will be back tomorrow in the Points Race.
The fourth and final day of Track Cycling will begin on Sunday at 15:00 with the Women’s Para Sport 1,000m Time Trial B Tandem, the Women’s 25km Points Race, Men’s 20km Scratch Race and Men’s Keirin.
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