Hockey: Scholefield injury adds to Scots' woe in England

There was a double setback for Scotland's men as they lost 5-0 and 3-1 to England at Lilleshall, part of the early build-up for the Champions Challenge in France and the European Nations Trophy in Ukraine this summer.

It was a bad start for the Scots in the opening encounter on Saturday, Iain Scholefield collecting an injury even before the match started, and the English went on to score five unanswered goals.

In yesterday's encounter the Scots started strongly and in the first minute Gareth Hall almost opened the scoring but his goal-bound effort brought out the best in the English keeper.

However, within five minutes Gordon McIntyre did give Scotland the lead. Gavin Byers created the opening with a powerful run up the right, his cross found the Glynhill Kelburne player whose shot from a narrow angle found the net off the post. Russell Garcia's charges continued to control proceedings and further chances fell to Byers, with a run and shot, along with Callum Milne, but no further goals came.

With Scots keeper Mark Fulton virtually a spectator for most of the first half, the English stole an equaliser just on the interval when, in a one-on-one situation with an English forward, Graham Moodie was adjudged to have fouled in the circle and the English scored from the spot.

England came out strongly in the second half and in 45 minutes gained a rather harsh penalty corner from which a nice move sent the ball past Fulton.

The Scots retaliated with an attack created by Gareth Hall, and although Wei Adams got a touch to his cross, it did not have sufficient force to find the target.

In 55 minutes England made it 3-1 when the Scots' defence failed to clear in the circle and the bouncing ball was fired past Fulton. Scotland pressed to get back into the game, but Hall launched the ball over the bar and Alan Forsyth sent an effort wide.

"There were a lot of positives in the first half, we kept possession well and looked good, but we allowed the English back into the game just before half-time, which they didn't deserve," said Scotland coach Eugene Connolly. "England were the better side in the second half, but it was a much better performance than the first game."