Canada U20 1 Scotland U20 2

Last updated : 29 March 2007 By Scotusa1314

CANADA U-20 1 : 2 SCOTLAND U-20

Altogether a much more pleasant experience both for the Scots and Scotty as Scotland triumphed on a pleasant night in British Columbia.

3,750 gathered in Royal Athletic Park to watch the rematch played in excellent conditions and it was the Scots who started well dominating the first 20 minutes with some excellent passing play during which Canada struggled to get the ball.

Except perhaps for Graham Dorrans who missed a sitter in the first twenty seconds, 42 minutes earlier than he had missed one in Vancouver. The outstanding Ross Campbell had fed him the chance and continued to torture Canada all the night, with his two goals being a well deserved reward for his skill and effort.

Scotland had what would have been a good penalty shout ignored, would have been as nobody actually shouted for it as the ball rebounded off a Canadian hand in the box. At Firhill, the noise would have been heard all the way to Saucciehall Street but both Scots and referee played on without interruption.

Dorrans could not be faulted for endeavour and beat a defender neatly before firing straight at David Monsalve, Canada's keeper on 13 minutes.

Scott Fox produced a much more confident display in the Scotland goal than Saturday as he scrambled to save a shot from a move where the linesman had incredibly missed the ball crossing the goal line earlier.

In 19 minutes the game began to turn, and it was the home side, marshalled by the outstanding Will Johnson, who started to press. He brought another superb save from Fox in the 22nd gave O'Leary a generally torrid time as for a while the ball just seemed to target the young defender.

Ross Campbell scuffed a good chance on the half hour and Tosaint Rickettsd, Canada's 2 goal hero at the weekend, blasted a good chance wide, just before Johnson fired a free kick over the bar.

Steven Fletcher missed a good chance just before another scoreless first half after a traditional stramash in the Canadian box.

GOAL! The second half opened more than brightly for the Scots. Within two minutes they had taken the lead when Ross Campbell netted a tap in after a mix up in the Canadian area.


This seemed to settle the Scots and the game settled into its first quiet patch as Canada tried to level, but it was Scotland who threatened again when a Dorrans free kick resulted in Steven Flethcher producing a good near post save from Monsalve.

GOAL! Shane Lammie however provided due reward for all Canada's endeavour in the 72nd minute when he equalised for Canada who had never won in the British Columbian capital. Having lost to Brazil here, the sedate but interested home crowd scented victory but the emergence of the most unlikely culprit prevented that.<

GOAL! David Edgar had made news worldwide with a cracking 25 yard goal for Newcastle that had deprived Manchester United of all three points at St James Park earlier in the season and had looked assured and competent in both matches. However a catastrophically short back header left Monsalve stranded and Campbell coolly volleyed the loose ball into the back of the net to guarantee the young Scots a win they deserved for their effort over the two games.

In a cleanly and sportingly contested game, Graham Dorrans compounded his miserable trip by getting booked 8 minutes from time. To his credit, he never let his head go down and harried the Canadian back line throughout the game. His attitude was faultless in both games.

Overall a very good night out for Archie Gemmell's boys who showed promise in the opening twenty minutes and could have won more convincingly had Dorrans not fluffed the early chance.

Men of the Match were Will Johnson for Canada and Ross Campbell for Scotland.

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