Ralph and Bain double secures comfortable Scottish win

SCOTLAND secured a comfortable victory over Italy at the men's EuroHockey Nations Trophy in Wrexham.

With the team still fuming over a disallowed goal in their previous match with the Czech Republic, Italy never got in front, despite the close 5-3 final score.

Swiss-based Mark Ralph opened the scoring and Kenny Bain doubled the advantage six minutes later.

Daniele Malta reduced the arrears but Ralph netted again to restore the two-goal advantage.

Italy's William Cottam made it 3-2 before Stephen Dick and Massimo Lanzano exchanged strikes while Bain killed the game off with a classy reverse stick strike in the dying minutes.

"We are feeling much better after the disappointing events yesterday," said manager Alan Bryce. 

"We controlled the game; it was a real team effort with good forward linking.  That's the thing about this squad, under Jon Royce, they're always looking to score."

The Scots were determined to give a strong performance after a controversial 2-2 draw with Czech Republic left the squad in the relegation pools.

A shot from Niall Stott slipped through a hole in the back of the net and, despite protests from players and video footage showing a valid goal, it was discounted.

"This match was actually delayed by fifteen minutes as they had to recheck the nets. During our warm up, the nets were still a bit questionable so officials came out and made sure things were in place," added Bryce. 

Scotland's final match is against Belarus on Saturday.