Scotland delighted with bronze in NZ

Scotland provided the shock of the BDO World Cup qualifier at Invercargill this weekend when they held China to a 2-2 draw in normal time, then whipped them 5-3 in the resulting penalty shoot-out, to claim third place and the bronze medal.

In confident style the Scots elected to go first in the shoot-out and Mark Ralph (Glynhill Hotel Kelburne), Stephen Dick (Inverleith) with a slight miscue, Vishal Marwaha (Western Wildccats), Michael Christie (Glynhill Hotel Kelburne) and finally Ross Stott (Glynhill Hotel Kelburne) all scored while keeper Allan Dick (Surbiton) easily saved the third effort of the Chinese. Stott`s winning strike sparked off a spontaneous pitch invasion by the entire Scottish squad which ended in a giant huddle in the middle of the pitch.

It was also a personal triumph for interim coach Russell Garcia, he took a bunch of raw youngsters to a major world event, they were seeded to finish fifth and they came away with a bronze medal. Is this the opening of the Garcia renaissance for Scottish Hockey?

In heavy wind and rain, perhaps conditions more suited to the Scots, Garcia`s charges never allowed the Chinese to settle into any sort of rhythm. Midway through the half Christie and Dick opened up the Chinese defence and the Inverleith striker finished off the move with a first time shot for his fourth goal of the tournament.

But within two minutes the Asians were back level when Yixian Liu tucked in a rebound after keeper Allan Dick had saved the initial effort.

The Scots were undaunted and regained the lead four minutes later when Dick intercepted a Chinese pass, he released the ball to Kenny Bain (Glynhill Hotel Kelburne) who volleyed the ball past the keeper.

Back came the Chinese and Fenghui Lu deflected the ball high into the net after a penalty corner variation. Dick then became the busier keeper as the Asians pressed for the winner but at the other end Bain was unlucky not to score with a neat deflection, then a Mark Ralph drag flick was saved at a set piece. Ralph had a final chance to win the game in normal time but his last minute penalty corner was again foiled by the Chinese defence.

Extra time came and went with no further goals although Christie and Bain did have chances to settle the issue, but the Scots went on to do so in the following penalty shoot-out.

Scottish Hockey Performance Manager Callum McLeod said: “It was a fantastic result to finish ahead of China who are ranked eleven places above us. Although this was an excellent team achievement, Ross Stott was consistently excellent throughout the tournament and it was fitting that he should score the final penalty to win the bronze medal.”

The Scottish management can now look forward to the publication of the new international rankings to see how far the side have moved up from the present 24th place and third spot in such a prestigious world event must surely provide the coach with a perfect springboard for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year..