International
24 October 2021

Agony For Wales Women But Delight For Men And Scotland On Final Day Of World Cup Qualifiers

There were mixed fortunes for Wales on the final day of the World Cup Qualifiers as the men won their tournament in Cardiff but the women agonisingly missed out on a place at the 2022 World Cup.

Needing to beat Ireland to qualify for next summer’s event, Wales’ women put in a strong showing against a team ranked 18 places above them but came up just short. Their men capped off a perfect week though by overcoming France in the final to take victory in front of a jubilant home crowd.

That came after Scotland enjoyed double success as their men and women both won their final games to end their tournaments in fifth and third respectively.

Following on from confirming their place at a maiden World Cup yesterday, Wales’ men wanted to send the home crowd into raptures once again by beating France in the final.

The first quarter was an even affair but France took the initiative in the second and deserved to open the scoring in the 23^rd minute through Gaspard Baumgarten. Wales came out firing in the second half though, with Rupert Shipperley pivotal in their 43^rd minute equaliser as he produced a stunning run before finding Luke Hawker in the circle, the striker making no mistake.

With five minutes remaining, Shipperley then proved to be the match winner as he reacted first to a penalty corner flick that had been saved to score a second and see his team lift the trophy at the end of an exhilarating four days of action.

It wasn’t quite the fairytale ending for Wales women though as they suffered an excruciating 2-1 defeat in their final.

With only the tournament winner reaching for next summer's showpiece event, Wales were outsiders heading into the final but had already caused upsets by beating Italy and Scotland to reach the last two. They fell behind early on however as Ireland’s Anna O’Flanagan gave her side the lead.

In the final minute of the first quarter, Izzie Howell drew Wales level by turning home a penalty corner and putting her side in the ascendancy. They dominated much of the rest of the game, forcing Ayeisha McFerran into several saves. However, with Wales briefly reduced to nine players in the final quarter, O’Flanagan scored again – her 86^th international strike – to give Ireland the win.

Cammy Golden scored twice to take his overall tally to four, meaning he finished as the tournament's top goalscorer. Credit: World Sport Pics

Alongside the prospect of finishing the tournament on a high, Scotland’s men also had the chance of moving ahead of their Russian opponents in the world rankings with victory in their fifth-placed play-off.

The first half was a cagey affair, with few chances before Cammy Golden fired his side ahead in the 24^th minute. After the break, Russia began to dictate possession and forced Tommy Alexander into several saves and also struck the crossbar as they piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.

It was Golden who was to score next though at the start of what would prove to be a frantic final quarter. The forward turned home his fourth goal of the tournament in the 48^th minute, only for Iaroslav Loginov to respond almost immediately. Two minutes later though Scotland had scored twice more, Lee Morton dispatching a penalty stroke before Edward Greaves converted a penalty corner. A spectacular strike by Nikolay Yankun proved to be just a consolation as Scotland won 4-2 to move up to 19^th in the world rankings.

There was similar success for Scotland’s women as they overcame yesterday’s heartbreak to beat Belarus 2-1 and secure a third-place finish in the women’s event in Italy.

Fiona Burnet gave the side the perfect start in just the fourth minute before Natallia Shtsin drew the Eastern European outfit level shortly afterwards. Burnet added her fourth goal of the tournament in the 26^th minute with a strike that would eventually prove to be the winner and see Scotland leave Italy in high spirits.