IT was a case of what might have been for Scotland last night at the women's hockey World Cup. They were beaten 1-0 by Germany, the world's No.2 ranked side in their final group match and this reversal has had severe ratifications.
The defeat obviously cost them a place in the semi-finals, but worse was to befall the Scots as the USA had earlier in the day beaten China 4-0.
This left them and Scotland equal on points and goal difference but as the Americans had scored more goals they took fourth place in the group and so Scot-land are now relegated to play off for positions 9-12 starting with India tomorrow.
Scotland will now achieve a ranking which is definitely not befitting a team of its stature. It excelled itself against Germany and had there been any justice going then they would have got the point which would have put them through to play off for positions 5-8 and in so doing open the gates for automatic qualification for the next World Cup in four years. This was a brilliant squad performance. There was not a weak player on the pitch but special mention must go to Fiona Pearson, Carrie Corcoran, Val Neil, and Alli Grant. They could not have contributed more.
Players like Diane Renilson, Pauline Robertson, Susan MacDonald, Susan Fraser, and Rhona Simpson worked themselves into the ground in Scotland's cause but they got few breaks. Over the 70 minutes they outscored Germany 6-5 on penalty corners and also created a series of good scoring opportunities.It was from a penalty with which Germany broke the deadlock. It was converted by Natascha Keller after an astute through ball into the circle had struck the foot of Fraser and with the goalkeeper Tracey Robb out of position the umpire rightly awarded Germany the stroke.
Scotland could well have been back on level terms at half-time following a period of concentrated pressure. And even in the last 15 minutes when Helen Walker went on to the right wing and Pearson dovetailed into her position at left back the Germans were repeatedly at full stretch, but alas the equaliser continued to elude them Results:
Women: Pool A - China 0, USA 4; Australia 5, South Africa 2; Scotland 0, Germany 1.
Pool B - New Zealand 2, England 1; India 2. Korea 4; Argentina 2, Holland 2.
Men: Pool B - Pakistan 3, Poland 1; Spain 3, Malaysia 0; Australia 3, England 0.
Today's games: Pool A - Germany v Korea; India v Canada; England v Malaysia.
Pool B - Spain v Poland; Australia v Pakistan; New Zealand v Holland.
Hockey: World Cup
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article