Scots still in the hunt despite heavy defeat to Germany

SCOTLAND'S women worked their hearts out against reigning Eurohockey Junior Nations Champions Germany, holding them to 2-1 well into the second half until fatigue set in towards the end. Indeed, the final 4-1 result was hardly a true reflection of play.

Every one of the Scottish girls chased and harried the Germans all over the pitch, and for a ten-minute spell before half time they even had their opponents looking rattled.

Unusually, all five goals came from open play, two of the German goals being of the preventable category, but the Scottish defence of short corners was exemplary. The Scottish goal was a triumph for Ali Howie even if her name didn't make it on to the scoresheet. She skinned her opposite number on the outside, continued down the right wing and cut back to the spot only for an under pressure German defender to turn the ball into her own net.

After a rest day tomorrow, the Scots go into the final pool of four with Belarus, Lithuania and France to decide which two teams stay in division one and which two drop down to division 2.

Scotland's Under-21 men, meanwhile, waltzed to a top place pool finish with a ten-goal demolition of a shell shocked Azerbaijan. The result means that the Scots will now face the second placed team from the other group in tomorrow's semi-finals as their bid for promotion continues. Nicky Parkes, Josh Cairns and Kenny Bain secured a three-goal interval lead for Scotland. A Cairns penalty and a Callum Milne double preceded the two goals which secured Bain his hat-trick, and Milne struck his third before Alan Forsyth completed this stroll in the sun.

The other pool is a very tightly contested affair with Austria, Czech Republic and Belarus all still in the running.