Hockey: Understrength Scots forced to settle for fourth place

Scotland had to be satisfied with a very creditable fourth place in the Champions Challenge in Lille when they went down 3-1 to Russia in yesterday's bronze medal play-off.

The odds were stacked against the Scots even before the start of the contest, they were reduced to a squad of only 14 players due to the suspension of Kenny Bain for his second yellow card of the tournament and Gareth Hall for his red against France in the semi-final.

Doubtless the Scots, seeded seventh in this eight nations tournament, would have settled for fourth spot before the start of the tournament, and this finish should improve their world ranking from a rather lowly 23rd at the moment. But they also have to thank the rather quixotic format of the event, the Scots only won one game out of their six, the 2-1 victory over China in the quarter finals, yet came fourth, while both Czech Republic and China won three matches and ended fifth and sixth respectively.

The Scots started well with a good chance falling to Alan Forsyth but his effort went tantalisingly wide. Midway through the first period, Scotland opened the scoring, Fergus Dunn's effort was cleared off the line but Gavin Byers slammed it into the net.

After the interval, almost inevitably, tiredness took over with Scotland's limited numbers and the Russians took full advantage in the final seven minutes with goals from Alexey Mamoshkin, Pavel Golubev and Anton Kornilov for a flattering 3-1 victory.

"We ran out of legs and substitutes and paid the price in the final seven minutes. We played well, but once again we surrendered a winning position and let the other side back into the game," said Eugene Connolly, Scotland's manager.

In Saturday's semi-final the twin perils of momentary lapses and indiscipline - two green cards, three yellows and a red - were the ingredients of Scotland's 5-3 defeat at the hands of France. Connolly admitted: "The French were there for the taking, but we didn't quite get there on the day."

It started promisingly when Fergus Dunn nudged the ball home, following a cross from the right, to put the Scots ahead in 23 minutes. But just on the interval with the French down to ten men, a defensive misjudgement allowed Olivier Sanchez to nip in for the equaliser and then Fabien Magner beat Mark Fulton with a straight drag flick at an overtime penalty corner for Frances second.

Early in the second half Scotland equalised when a Dan Coultas drag flick flew into the French net off the crossbar. But nine minutes later Magner again, Lucas Sevestre and Jean-Baptiste Pauchet had given their side a three-goal cushion.