HERE was a tale familiar to long-suffering followers of the Scotland football team as a positive, vibrant performance against South Africa by their hockey equivalents went unrewarded.
It was not how Ross Stott would have wanted to mark the occasion of his 100th cap. With Scotland temporarily down to 10 men with his brother Niall in the sin-bin, Stott jr was adjudged to have illegally blocked a strike from Andrew Cronje early in the second half.
Scotland chose to contest the decision to award the penalty stroke but their referral was unsuccessful. Cronje struck his flick low past Jamie Cachia in the Scottish goal.
"It was a big day for me but it didn't end the way I wanted it to," said Ross Stott. "I was honoured to win my 100th cap but I suppose you can blame the Stotts for the result. I didn't think Niall's offence was a yellow card but the penalty call was probably correct as it did hit me on the shoulder."
A second South African goal four minutes from time - Ignatius Malgraff tapped in at the back post - confirmed this was not going to be Scotland's day. They had a right to feel aggrieved following a first-half display which was encouraging but ultimately fruitless.
They did have the ball in the net after just 13 minutes - Nick Parkes poked it past the goalkeeper after a stramash in the circle - but the South Africans appealed for an infringement and the strike was disallowed.
Coach Derek Forsyth's initial reaction at full-time - "I've been better" - summed up his disappointment but he was also able to extract some positives having witnessed his charges match a team ranked 13 places above them in the world. India, ranked No.9, await them next this afternoon in what has become a must-win match.
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