Scots surge into semis at Euros
While the Women’s and Men’s top seeds England and France confirmed their places in the last four yesterday, it was Scotland who stole the show on day two of the European Team Championships in Birmingham with wins to back up yesterday’s upsets which book both teams a semi-final spot.
The Scots are be joined by third seeds Spain (men) and Belgium (women).
The day at Edgbaston Priory Club opened with England’s men taking on Spain. In the opening match Iker Pajares took the game to Declan James, who fought back from losing the opening game and took the third and fourth on extra points. England took the next three matches more comfortably to record their third win and top Pool B at Spain’s expense.
In Pool A, Scotland, who had upset Germany then snatched a dramatic draw with top seeds France last night, despatched Hungary 4-0 to confirm their place in the semis courtesy of wins for Greg Lobban, Alan Clyne, Angus Gillams and Stuart George.
Meanwhile France fell behind to the Germans as Simon Roesner fought back from a game down to win. Baptiste Masotti, as he did last night against the Scots, let a two game lead slip but this time recovered to take the fifth and put France back on track as they eased through the final two matches to top the group on games countback ahead of Scotland.
“We knew the pool stages would be tough without our top players, so we were ready for that,” said French manager Renan Lavigne. “We made it harder for ourselves with yesterday’s draw with Scotland but I’m proud of how the boys came back in today’s match to finish top of the group.”
The semi-final line-up on Friday is : 14.00 [1] France v [3] Spain, 17.00 [2] England v [5] Scotland.
England’s women won their third straight Pool A match, beating the Netherlands three-nil, although Sarah-Jane Perry was taken to four games by Milou van der Heijden in the top string.
Second place would be taken by the winner of Wales and Scotland, and after the first two matches were shared ( a win for Alison Thomson and defeat for Lisa Aitken) a tense decider ensued. It was Scotland’s Georgia Adderley who prevailed, coming from a game down to beat Stacey Gooding for a second successive Scottish seeding upset and a first top flight semi-final spot since 2005.
“I feel privileged to be able to lead this team out for the semi-finals tomorrow,” said Scotland’s number one and captain Lisa Aitken, “they all inspire me in different ways. “It’s a pity I couldn’t win the second match so it went to a decider, but the team did great.
“We’re all ecstatic at the moment but we need to just try to hold it in so we can perform tomorrow.”
Second seeds France, who have met – and lost to – England in the last five women’s finals – also won for a third time, but Belgium came so close to creating a massive upset.
Tinne Gilis – who won the decider in their first two matches – put Belgium ahead, and then elder sister Nele took world #4 Camille Serme to the brink of defeat. Nele had game balls in the first, won the second then had game balls in the third before Camille took that 15-13 before taking the fourth. Melissa Alves wrapped up the match for the French.
Tomorrow’s semi-final line-up is: 10.00 [1] England v [3] Belgium, 12.00 [2] France v [8] Scotland
With Scotland creating double upsets on Day 2, the last word goes to National Coach Paul Bell.
He said: “This is what we’re aspiring to do, challenging at the major events and this is the first step.
“We’ve come with two young teams and for them both to reach the semis is a tremendous achievement. Hopefully we’re setting our stall out for the future.”
Follow the action from Birmingham on SquashTV and via Facebook and YouTube.
Full results here.
Live updates, scores and results are also available through Scottish Squash’s Twitter and Instagram accounts and via the official event Twitter account and website.
Weekend tickets can be purchased here.
