Scots held by Austria despite Bain treble

Published on 06/08/2012 03:13

HOCKEY: Kenny Bain was in fine scoring form with a well-taken hat-trick, but the Scots were still held to a 3-3 draw by Austria in Poznan at the weekend in a game that manager Eugene Connolly believed they should have won easily.

“We were 3-1 up with 15 minutes to go, and then let the Austrians back into the game. We were by far the better side, we had several chances but didn’t kill them off,” said Connolly.

In a further build-up match for the first round of the World League in Portugal next month, the Scots took an early lead, Fergus Dunn and Bain opened up the Austrian defence and the latter finished with a low shot from the top of the circle. Although the Austrians equalised, Bain was again on target just before the interval, he accepted a pass from Russell Anderson and found the net with another fierce low shot.

The result looked sealed when Bain notched his third 
in 55 minutes – an excellent 
free hit by Willie Marshall split the Austrian defence leaving Bain with a tap-in to the empty net.

However, the Austrians came back into the contest with a penalty corner and a goal that should have been prevented by the Scotland rearguard.

The Scots then pressed for the winner, Bain had his shot saved by the goalkeeper, Gordon McIntyre had a chance but missed the ball and an overtime penalty corner tamely petered out, to leave the sides level at 3-3.