England Vs. Scotland

England 11 Scotland 9

England Women defeat Scotland and advance to European Championship finals!

Scotland had been hailed as the team to beat along with Wales. Their results against the other Group A teams had been impressive. Whoever won our match today would advance to the gold / silver medal play off whilst the other would play Ireland for the bronze. Everything was to play for.

The girls had been briefed with tactics and countermoves by Nicholls, Mike Gosling (physio) had patched up the players and Roberts-Gawen had given her advice to individuals. It was now down to the young England squad to prove they were capable of being in the running for the title of European Champions.

England started out nervous, letting the excitement of the match get to them and allowed the Scottish to fire in three quick goals.  Nicholls called her time out early to do exactly as she had done yesterday; to regroup, restart and reorganise her team after their disastrous start.

Following Nicholls’s stern words, the England team looked like a different squad of girls. They began to fire in fast, fantastic shots and simply over-ran the Scottish defence. Shooting by Sohphie Sweerts was particularly outstanding. Alice Bruynseels played some fantastic lacrosse, dictating her opponent.  Tor Burrows also made her presence known. The game was gritty and not pretty, but the score was 6-4 to England at half time.

The second half was 30 minutes of highs and lows. England made small mistakes but redeemed themselves impressively. The Scots attempted to regain the lead, but a mixture of superb defence and a strong attack  meant every goal Scotland scored was answered with a powerful reply.

The Scots did come within one goal of the English within the last few minutes, which cheered up the Scottish fans in the crowd and panicked the management bench. The defence reamined calm and in control to deny any further goals and the English attack punished the Scottish defending with a further goal to extend the lead by two.

As the bench official ran onto the field to count down the final few seconds, the England bench all held their breath. The score was 11-9 and it was near impossible for the Scots to tie or win.

England next face Wales in the finals of the European Championship.