Team Scotland suffered the agony of missing out on a semi-final place in the Women’s Hockey competition after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of England in their final Pool B match.
In front of a packed home support at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre, midfielder Nikki Kidd had brought Scotland back into the contest with a penalty corner strike shortly before half-time, after Alex Danson and Susannah Thomas goals had given England a 2-0 lead.
The Scots dominated for long second half spells, fashioning a number of chances from open play and penalty corners. Alas, England and Great Britain goalkeeper Maddie Hinch had an excellent game, repelling the Scottish advances in front of goal with a number of top class saves.
Following the match, a shattered Scotland Captain Linda Clement said, “The first emotion is disappointment and also a bit of hurt. We’re really disappointed not to beat England today, and we’ve missed our target of making the top four. There’s also a sense of pride, we fought really hard and we gave it our everything. Unfortunately we just fell a little bit short today.
“There were a lot of chances in the game and their keeper did play well. In the second half, I felt we dominated, just disappointed that we couldn’t get the ball in the goal. That’s tournament hockey. We pick ourselves up and go for fifth place now. [The crowd] were absolutely outstanding and all we can do is thank them for their support today.”
Scotland Head Coach Gordon Shepherd added, “It was a fantastic performance, one I’m very proud of. I’m so proud of the players, I couldn’t have asked for any more from them. We prepared so well for this game, we had a game plan that very nearly came off. In the second half, I don’t know if I’ve seen them play with such conviction, they were amazing. We had the corners, we had the open play chances. We had six corners, so no-one can say we didn’t create chances, but we just didn’t execute, that was the only thing.”
Scotland now advance to the 5th/6th classification match on Friday, with England taking a semi-final spot. “It’s a game we definitely want to win”, said Shepherd. “We’d like to finish in the highest position possible and it also gives the girls a great opportunity to come and play in front of such a magnificent crowd. They were tremendous from start to finish today, and the players want to enjoy every minute of it.”

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