Scottish Thistles – Preliminaries Stage 2 and Playoffs
24th July 2019
If you want to relive the Scottish Thistles #NWC2019 Campaign, or missed-out on any of their matches, we’ve got you covered! We’ve put together mini-match reports to give you a succinct overview of each match in Scotland’s #NWC2019 campaign – take a read below!
Scotland v South Africa
Scotland’s 4th Match of the Netball World Cup was against South Africa, a team who, at the time of writing, are placed 5th in the INF World Rankings. Scotland showed that they could stand tall against a top 6 team in the early quarters of this match, but we’re outmanoeuvred by a more aggressive South African side.
Q1: The Thistles opened an early 5-3 lead after South Africa’s attack ran into trouble, however, South Africa bounced back quickly to even out the score line and eventually pull away from Scotland to establish a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Q2: South Africa extended that lead in the second quarter, they forced Scotland into mistakes and capitalised on it to take a 32-20 lead into half time.
Q3: The third quarter seen South Africa maintain a strong attacking stance, with the Thistles side struggling to find opportunities. Emma Barrie kept the scoreboard ticking over, but South Africa ended 49-32 up.
Q4: The final 15 minutes seen an intense defensive effort from both sides. Burger and Holtzhausen kept the scoreboard ticking over for South Africa, who finished 66-38 winners.
Scottish Thistles Emma Barrie said:
“We had some good stuff out on court but we were lacking consistency. We’ll go back and look at some analysis, see where we went wrong and try and fix it for our next match.”
Scotland v Jamaica
Scotland seen an early victory over Jamaica taking the first quarter from the Sunshine Girls, in what was a heartening victory for the Thistles. However, Jamaica, looking to prove themselves, pushed back to take control of the match and seen Scotland finally trail 36–76.
Q1: Both sides started this match strongly, but an early Jamaican injury affected the movement of the team. Scotland, who took full advantage of their opponents’ confusion, were neck and neck with the 2nd ranked team in the world for much of Q1. The thistles were soon able to pull ahead, giving them a win in the first quarter, leading Jamaica 14–13.
Q2: Jamaica didn’t take the first quarter loss lightly; Fowler brought the scores level early in quarter two and quickly carved out a three-goal lead. Scotland struggled to maintain possession and Jamaica ended the half 32-21 up.
Q3: Jamaica dominated this quarter, and with Scotland unable to keep control of the ball Jamaica were storming ahead to extend their lead out to 20. All the while Shamera Sterling was proving a disruptive force to the Scottish attack and Jamaica ended the third quarter 50-26 up.
Q4: Scotland found more rhythm in the final quarter of the match, with the first 6 goals evenly shared across both teams, and an excellent intercept allowed Scotland to claw back some points and reduce the deficit. But it wasn’t enough, and Jamaica maintained their lead, winning the match 67 – 36.
Scotland Head Coach Gail Parata said:
“We came out today hoping we might be able to surprise Jamaica in that first quarter and get the lead. We debated whether to risk players, because the game we really want is Trinidad and Tobago (tomorrow), but we thought we’d see how the first quarter went, and we were delighted to be in front.
“In the second quarter we knew they’d up their game, and we couldn’t keep pace with them. The Jamaican team that we know – the speed and the flair they have – came out in the second and third quarters, but I was pleased with our finish too.”
Scotland v Trinidad and Tobago
In one of the tightest matches of the NWC, with a game that seen the lead change hands on multiple occasions, Scotland were able to secure a 43-43 draw with T&T thanks to a last-minute goal from Lynsey Gallagher.
Q1: This was a must win match for both sides and one that Scotland had targeted as a must win. Emma Barrie opened the scoring but T&T’s defence challenged Scotland. A series of loose passes from T&T enabled the Thistles to pill ahead and close the first quarter with an 11-9 lead.
Q2: The second quarter seen Trinidad and Tobago capitalise on any Scottish error and moved them towards a 14-13 lead. Scotland fought hard to keep the scores level though, and a late miss by Kalifa McCollin seen Scotland go into half time 22-21 up.
Q3: The third quarter was as close as the previous two. Again, early momentum was with T&T as they leapt ahead of Scotland by 2 goals. Their lead was however, short lived and the Thistles capitalised on a centre error which allowed the Thistles to tie T&T 34 – 34 going into the final quarter.
Q4: The final seen Scotland and Trinidad and Tobago wrestling for overall control of the match, but as the time ticked down and the score line remained tight, it took a Scottish error to allow T&T back into the game and almost immediately seen Scotland trailing 42 – 39. However, the shooting partnership of Gallagher and Barrie seen Scotland draw level with 45 seconds to go. Astoundingly, with 30 seconds to go T&T’s Wallace sank what should have been the winning goal of the game but a well handled ball to Gallagher, who was awarded a penalty in the dying seconds the match, allowed her to sink the goal-tying shot from left of the goal, finishing 43-43.
Scotland’s Lynsey Gallagher said:
“I heard the crowd roar and I knew it was a penalty pass or shot, so I just needed to take my time and put it away.
“I think it was a bit of ping pong at the end. It’s hard to win ball off Trinidad and Tobago and we just had to treasure the ball. Sometimes it was just the final execution of things – things that you know you do day-in, day-out, but I think that was just part and parcel of that game.”
Scotland with this late draw finished 6th in Group G and played Barbados in the 11th/12th play-off.
Scotland v Barbados
Excellent play in second and fourth quarters made the difference for the Thistles, who were able to see off Barbados and claim 11th as they ran out 53-42 winners.
Q1: Scotland made the most of early errors from Barbados, with more than a few excellent interceptions to swing momentum the way of the Thistles for the first quarter allowing them to build an early 6-2 lead. However, Barbados fought back, and a turnover saw Barbados claw the score line back somewhat. Scotland maintained a 15-13 at the end of Q1.
Q2: Scotland Came out of the blocks immediately at the start of the second quarter, securing 5 goals to command a 20-13 lead. Emma Barrie kept that score line ticking over with an excellent string of shots and Scotland were 29-22 up going into half time
Q3: Barbados bounced back almost immediately in the third quarter and started to even out the score line. A fortunate error by Wharton allowed Scotland to bring momentum back their way, and Scotland held tight to the control of the quarter from then on. The thistles finished the quarter 39-33 up heading into the last 15 minutes.
Q4: Barbados came storming into the final quarter, determined to regain control of the match, and clawed the score back to 39–36. Amazingly, the Thistles, with some impressive defensive work from Emily Nicholl and the cool shooting head of Lynsey Gallagher allowed Scotland to maintain their grip of this match. Final score 53–42.
Scotland maintained a tight grip on their final NWC match which seen them claiming 11th in the NWC standings, an improvement upon their 12th-place finish in 2015.
