UEFA Elite Round
Scotland 0-1 Republic of Ireland
Tuesday, 26 March, kick-off 2.30pm
Ainslie Park, Edinburgh
A closely-fought match went the way of the Republic of Ireland this afternoon, as Scotland Women’s Under-17s were narrowly defeated in their final UEFA Elite Round match.
The opening minutes saw Ireland maintaining possession well from the kick off, with Scotland sitting deep and allowing their back line to play. The first half gave both keepers very little to do.
The 14th minute saw Scotland’s first opportunity with some great play. Rebecca McAllister who drove forward through the Irish midfield, passing it to Scott who bounced it back to Paige McAllister, whose cross was comfortably claimed by the Irish keeper.
Unfortunately for Scotland, a mistake by Girasoli gifted Kingsley a one-on-one with Yates. Kingsley calmly touched it round Yates, passing it into the back of the net leaving Scotland 1-0 down.
Scotland responded well by pressing the Irish team much higher, but left themselves a hard task getting back into the game and breaking down the well set up Irish defence.
At half time Scotland made two changes, with Scott and McFadden being replaced by Forsyth and Shore. Their impact was immediate, as Scotland created more opportunities at the start of the second half.
The best chance came nine minutes into the second half, McQuillan providing a fantastic piece of individual skill before striking from 25 yards to force the Irish Keeper Maguire to make a leaping save.
The end of the game saw a feisty battle from the Scotland captain McCartney and Foley, with both players picking up yellow cards for separate incidents.
Unfortunately for Scotland, despite dominating the second half, were not able to break through the Irish defence and were left 1-0 down at the final whistle.