 | Russia players celebrate |
|
Scotland have it all to do when they travel to Russia for next Thursday second leg of the EURO2009 play-off tie. Today's reverse was not unexpected but is still disappointing for the squad after they led twice and were a match for their professional opponents for most of the game. The second leg will be equally as tough as the Russian Federation have decided to play the return leg in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, a province near Chechnya and the Georgian border and the scene of extreme violence a couple of years ago when airports, police stations and government buildings were attacked by rebel forces. The flight to Moscow and then onto Kabardino-Balkaria may take it's toll as Scotland strive to get back into the tie. The 11 places gap was not much in evidence for much of the game and indeed if Scotland had captain Julie Fleeting in the side today I am confident that you would be reading about a rather different result.
Scotland got off to the best possible start when Celtic LFC Pauline Hamill opened the scoring for Scotland in just two minutes. Unfortunately, the Russian's managed to cancel that out with an equaliser just two minutes later when Olesya Kurochkina scored with a curling drive past Gemma Fay. However, despite this setback it was Scotland who were the most attack minded and were rewarded with another goal from Hamill who scored from a free kick 20 metres out after curling the ball round the wall. Once again the Russians clawed there way back into the game and Natalia Mokshanova scored from the spot on 30 minutes after Valentina Savchenkova and Rhonda Jones both went for the ball but ended up in the air with Scottish captain penalised for her efforts at halting the Russian.
 | Singeul and Hamill disappointed after the game but were praised by Pat Nevin for their play. |
|
In the second half Scotland were held back for long periods and the full-time status of the visitors was becoming more evident. That being said the Russian side did not threaten Fay in goal that much during this period. The Scots looked to have caught their second wind as the match neared it last third but substitute Barbashova came up with a good goal to spoil that fightback. She drove in from the left, holding off three players along the way before curling the ball into the right hand corner of the net. Scotland had their chances to equalise and Hamill was unlucky with her shot near the end where she chose to drive for the near post rather than across the keeper when she had time and space to spare. So, Scotland have a challenge and a half on Thursday with at least two goals needed after three flights to get to the game venue.
Scotland: Fay, Jones (McBride), Beattie, Dieke, Kerr, Love, Little, Sneddon (McDonald), Hamill, Grant, Ross (Ross) Subs: Hutcheson, Ferguson, , Brown, Cunningham
Goals: Hamill (two)
Russia: Todua, Schmachkova, Tsybutovich, Kozhnikova, Suslova, Skotnikova, Fomina (Sergaeva), Morozova, Kurochkina (Barbashnia), Savchenkova, Mokshanova (Petrova) Subs: Kochneva, Poriadina, Sochneva, Letyushova
Goals: Kurochkina, Mokshanova, Barbashova
Referee: Floarea Ionescu (Romania)
| Editor
Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)
Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)
This is ScottishFitba Net |
