Scotland U-19s defeated Czech Republic 3-0 on Monday in their final game at the inaugural Pinatar Youth Cup in the south of Spain.
Eilidh Adams opened the scoring for Pauline Hamill’s side in the second-half, with substitute Maria McAneny delivering a brace, both goals scored directly from corner-kicks.
The win followed a narrow defeat at the hands of Hungary on Friday. Despite creating some goal-scoring opportunities, a late strike conceded from a set-piece sealed the game.
Head coach Pauline Hamill told scottishfa.co.uk: “It’s been a great week, having the group together has been superb.
“Not just in terms of improving our style of play but getting the chance to build relationships on and off the pitch. Ultimately, being ready for the [UEFA EURO] qualifiers is our goal and I think we’ve made huge strides this week.
“We’re really looking forward to the qualifiers now. The players will have another few weeks back at their clubs, but we’ll come back together and look to do everything in our power to top that group come April.”
Reflecting on the match action across the week, Hamill added: “It was a difficult game for us against Hungary. I thought we did well to stay in the match and create the chances that we did.
“It’s obviously disappointing not to win that one but there were huge positives to take, mainly around the resilience we showed against a team who play very well.
“We took the lessons from that into the Czech Republic game where we performed really well and dominated play. I thought we were unfortunate to go in without scoring at half-time, as we did create chances.
“It was a different story in the second-half with great play from Jodi McLeary to set up Eilidh Adams, who delivered a fantastic finish for the first goal.
“Two goals straight from corners from Maria was obviously the icing on the cake. It was a great win – a performance and result that we’re really pleased with.”
Scotland U-19s return to action for the UEFA EURO qualifiers which take place 5-11 April against Albania (hosts) and Liechtenstein.
Group winner will be promoted to Group A for 2023/24 round one matches.
