Scotland's men made their presence felt in Lousada, Portugal, with a more than comfortable victory in the opening pool match of the first round of the World League, writes Craig Madden.
It took them 28 minutes to make the breakthrough as the Moroccans played a nine-man defence and Scottish frustration was exacerbated by hitting the post four times and missing two penalty corners. At the third setpiece, though, Dan Coultas switched the ball to Niall Stott who lashed it home. Within two minutes, a Chris Nelson shot in the circle was deflected home by Gavin Byers then, at another penalty corner switch, the ball was passed to Kenny Bain who converted with ease.
With the pressure off, they scored almost at will in the second half. The fourth was possibly the pick of them, Chris Grassick waltzing round three defenders and lobbing the goalkeeper. Bain made the fifth with a dazzling run before passing to Alan Forsyth who marked his 50th cap – he is the youngest Scottish player to achieve the feat – by scoring with a crisp shot.
The Scots scored four goals in the final seven minutes as Moroccan heads dropped. A setpiece switch left Ian Moodie to score his first Scotland goal with a tap-in, then a driven cross was deflected home by Stott for 8-0. Stott provided the ninth, beating two defenders only to be chopped down by the third and Coultas fired his penalty shot into the roof of the net. With three seconds left, a long ball out of defence found Bain who drew the keeper and left Forsyth with a tap in. "Once we got going, we had 90% of possession, a dozen penalty corners and hit the post six times in total," said Eugene Connolly, the Scotland manager.
n Scotland's Olympians Laura Bartlett and Emily Maguire will be guests of honour at the girls' youth inter-district tournament this weekend at Peffermill. On Sunday there will be two "meet the stars" sessions when players and spectators will hear about the Olympic experiences of both players.
n The deadline for applications for the three full-time coaches, sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, has been extended to October 1. The coaches will be attached to men's clubs PSL Clydesdale and Grove Menzieshill and women's side Granite City Wanderers for the next three years.
cricket
Stuart Broad is confident England will carry no mental scars into their ICC World Twenty20 Super Eight match against West Indies, writes David Clough. The captain is sporting a cut in the middle of his forehead, after a swimming-pool collision with Tim Bresnan and the Yorkshireman's chunky watch at the team hotel.
Broad is satisfied that his will be the only wound, figurative or otherwise, worn by England today, despite their hapless performance against spin in Sunday's record 90-run defeat by India in Colombo.
He and his team-mates at least came through today's practice session safely, as they got their first glimpse of new surroundings at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium where the champions will bid to get the defence of their title back on track, and erase unwanted memories of that unequal struggle against Harbhajan Singh three days ago.
West Indies have their own "trump card", when it comes to slow bowlers, as their captain Darren Sammy describing Harbhajan's fellow off-spinner Sunil Narine.
Broad, though, retains faith in his batsmen, who have been prescribed words of encouragement rather than a technical overhaul since their descent to 80 all out at the Premadasa Stadium. "It is important to get back into the nets and start feeling like hitting the ball again," he said. "It is all a mental state of mind, getting back in a positive frame of mind and reminding [ourselves] that we are good players who have performed consistently."
Broad is consoled, as he was in the immediate aftermath of his team's weekend trouncing, that it came in a match of little consequence. "If you are going to have a blip, do it in the game that doesn't matter," he said. "As much as we tried to get away from it, there was the sense that, whatever the result, it didn't change what we did. It is important to get a good start in the Super Eights, because the games come thick and fast."
If England do respond with a winning performance, it may well be interpreted as a triumph of man-management from Broad and coach Andy Flower. "We just talked about our strengths; learn from the mistakes you make, but don't dwell on them," added the captain. "The India game was a big disappointment for us, and it was losing the early wickets that really did for us."
SPORT
Intro in here
Subsequent pars with 3mm indent
n blob par with no indent
SPORT
Intro in here
Subsequent pars with 3mm indent
n blob par with no indent
SPORT
Intro in here
Subsequent pars with 3mm indent
n blob par with no indent
Contextual targeting label:
