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LUC Ronchin Tournoi Lille March 13-14 2010

Group Matches

George Black with scars of battle in Lille 2010George Black bears the (self inflicted) scars of battle

The first match on Saturday 13 March, against the Belgians, ended in a 2-0 victory with goals from Crichton (penalty corner) and Mitchinson who picked up a bouncing pass from Downie and swivelled to put a fine effort on the turn past the Eburons keeper. A tight encounter against Welsh Dragons followed in the afternoon, the Welsh edging the match 1-0 with a finely taken goal by the right winger after a defence-splitting pass left him in the clear in the circle. The Dragons had surprisingly lost 1-0 to Egypt earlier in the day, and Egypt had won their other match against the Belgian side 2-1 to put them into top spot in the group. Welsh Dragons finished their group programme with a 2-1 victory against Eburons, leaving Egypt and Scottish Thistles with the task of beating their total in their final match on the Sunday morning.

With a point awarded for each goal scored up to three and a point for a loss, the positions before the Scottish Thistles-Egypt match were:

Welsh Dragons played 3; 10 points; 3 goals for, 1 against
Egypt played 2; 9 points 3 goals for, 1 against
Scottish Thistles played 2; 6 points; 2 goals for, 1 against

Scottish Thistles came out in determined mood against Egypt and soon put them under concerted pressure, though lack of a genuine goalscorer was a source of worry - where was the goal to come from? In the end, there was an element of luck in the single goal which made all the difference. A cross by McIntosh from inside the circle was deflected high into the air of the stick of a defender. For once, the umpire chose to allow advantage as the ball was well clear of any players. Downie, who had come into the left hand side of the circle with no marker in sight, was able to put a stick on the ball as it dropped and hit it on the drop off a thick edge into the top right hand corner of the net. The Egyptians, who needed only a draw to claim top spot, fought back and two of their underage players caused some heartstopping moments by carving their way at speed through the Thistles midfield and defence. The Scots held out for a 1-0 victory which meant that all three teams ended on 10 points.

The competition rules meant that Egypt lost out on a semi final place because of inferior goal difference while Welsh Dragons and Scottish Thistles were exactly equal on points, goal difference and goals scored. The positions in the group had to be decided by a penalty flick competition, in which the sides were equal after five flicks each, both sides scoring three out of the five. The Scottish scorers were Downie, McIntosh and Chisholm. A second series of five flicks, this time sudden death, ended quickly when Downie's flick had just enough pace to squeeze under the Welsh keeper while Nichols put his flick wide of Black's right hand post to hand Thistles top spot in the group and a semi final tie against France, who had come second in the other group.

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semi final

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