Ireland coach Gene Muller was left searching for a sharper cutting edge to his strike force after three losses in three days to Spain in Valencia this weekend.
His side fell to back-to-back 4-0 defeats on Friday and Saturday before a much improved performance on Sunday saw the side lose 2-1 but felt his side needed to take more of the chances on offer.
He said: "We deserved better than a 2-1 loss, we played our best match today. A clear focus needs to now be applied to both circles, we need to be more clinical as in the last two matches we had the same number of circle entries as Spain."
Eimear Cregan's (pictured) 44th minute strike levelled Montse Cruz fifth minute opener but the Spanish striker deflected superbly high into the net to take the win.
Spain dominated the two prior games, racking up two 4-0 wins with 13 penalty corners in the second game to give a clear indication of the task facing the Irish in next month's European Championships in Amsterdam. Ireland meet the Spaniards in their third group game of the tournament on August 25.
Results:
Friday: Ireland 0 Spain 4 (R Huertas, J Mendez, N Camon, E Termens)
Saturday: Ireland 0 Spain 4 (R Huertas, G Cormena, N Camon, P Sanchez)
Sunday: Ireland 1 (Eimear Cregan) Spain 2 (M Cruz 2)
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2 comments:
Apologies for the lack of posts this weekend. I was away for the past four days but forgot to post a warning to that effect.
Stephen
It is a bit worrying that the ladies conceded 10 goals in 3 games! But good test matches all the same to prepare for Europeans.
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