Wales women suffered a three – one defeat to Scotland in the first of three matches over the Easter Weekend hosted at Sport Wales.
A large crowd gathered for the heated affair between the home nations. A strong start for Wales was swiftly disrupted by the accumulation of a number of penalty cards for both sides.
Wales threatened several times on the counterattack but were unable to execute the final touch in front of goal.
The highlight of the first half was undoubtedly Ella Jackson’s fantastic penalty save as she directed the Scottish flick onto the crossbar.
Wales’s joy was short lived as Scotland broke the deadlock through Eva Wadsworth whose shot on goal trickled past goalkeeper Ella Jackson on the break of half time.
The third quarter remained a feisty affair as Wales fought to level the match with goalkeeper Lauren Roberts executing some fantastic saves but the final quarter saw Scotland add two to their tally courtesy of Fran Lonergan and Zara Kennedy.
Wales continued to attempt to respond but were consistently denied by the Scottish goalkeeper before Livvy Hoskins secured a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the match.
Head Coach Kevin Johnson said
“It’s obviously frustrating to lose a game of hockey but it's the start of our campaign, I saw enough in some of the parts of the performance that pleased me and the trick is now to find more of those moments, be more consistent and try and find a bit more possession in areas that are going to hurt Scotland.”
Goal scorer Livvy Hoskins commented:
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get a result, but the game has given us things to work on for the next few games and we’ll be back stronger tomorrow . It’s always great getting on the score sheet, especially when it results from such great team play.”