It was a mixed day for Team England on the middle day of Home Internationals as three teams looked to set themselves up with a chance of winning the competition on Sunday.
England Senior Women A went two from two with a win over Wales and the U19 A side made amends for a defeat to Wales on the opening day by beating Scotland.
However, the Men’s Senior side fell by the narrowest of margins to Scotland, although they can still win the competition with victory over Wales.
England’s men took on Scotland in their first ever outing at Home Internationals, comprising a squad largely made up of Under 23 players.
Scotland had lost convincingly to Wales on Friday, but their squad showed a very different make-up for the contest with a number of players coming in after being unavailable for the Friday.
The first quarter was fairly slow to get going with both teams wasteful in possession; a quick transition from a Scotland loose ball saw Elliot Leonard feed Dan Watson unmarked on the crease for a simple finish and the only goal of Q1.
England then looked to build their lead, Watson and Leonard combining again, this time Leonard the scorer.
And when Joe Baythorpe finished off a pass from Watson with a smart BTB finish, England had a 3-0 lead.
However, the tide began to turn as England displayed some indiscipline on the ride, at one point going down two men, and Scotland clawed a couple goals back first through Richardson and then Harper for a 3-2 half.
The first score of the second-half went to England, Watson picking up his third assist and Baythorpe adding his second.
However, this began a barren spell which saw Hal Dwobeng come under increasing pressure in goal as Scotland became dominant in possession.
Richardson snuck a bounce shot under Dwobeng, before Barclay scored on the dive from a tight angle to level things up at the end of Q3.
At the start of the 4th, the penalty count started to rack up against England again with three penalties in a five-minute spell, compounded with an inability to claim possession from the face-off, and Sctoland took advantage.
A brace from Crawley and an effort from Ross flipped the game with the Scots 4-7 ahead.
An England time-out seemed to compose the situation, Watson stepping up again to doggedly force his way round the crease to pull one back, and Baythorpe completed his hat-trick to pull England within one with less than three minutes to play.
However, possession never really fell for England as Scotland saw the game out to claim the win.
England must now beat Wales on Sunday to claim the Home Internationals title.
Final: England 6-7 Scotland
England Scorers: Joe Baythorpe (3,0), Dan Watson (2,3), Elliot Leonard (1,1)
In the Women’s Senior A match against Wales, they had no such problems, putting in a convincing performance to win 11-4 and go 2-0 for the weekend.
England were hot from the off moving the ball at pace, looking to drive aggressively from the top of penetrate the Welsh defence.
Camilla Hayes got the scoring underway seizing on a loose ball to fire home before, against the run of play, Ros Lloyd-Rout tied the game up.
Iona Dryden thought she had then put Wales ahead but was called for a dangerous shot, and with England a man-up, Alex Drewe capitalised to give the hosts a 2-1 lead at ¼ time.
Q2 continued in a positive vain for England, Torz Anderson twisting and turning the defenders to get free to score before she turned provider to Jenny Simpson for a 4-1 lead.
Liv Wimpenny added the fifth, while any Wales opportunity was soundly shut out by the defence and Katie Greenwood in goal.
At the start of Q3 it was Welsh ‘keeper, Polly Harris’ turn to deny the attackers with several saves before Laura Warren pulled one back for Wales.
However, then began the Jenny Simpson show, with three goals in a devastating five-minute spell that sealed the game.
Approaching the crease, Simpson produced a series of dodges and rolls to shake off a number of defenders before a low shovel shot to score.
She then produced a carbon copy again beating the defence before this time finishing with a dive finish, deliberated by the umpires but eventually given.
Simpson then saved the best until last, receiving a pass from Hayes with her back to goal, and flicking it down low to put England 8-2 up at ¾ time.
The teams then traded efforts, first Ellie Ganstra for Wales and Kirsten Lafferty for England, before Anna Featherstone put England into double figures.
Drewe got another for England before Lloyd-Rout closed out the scoring, purely as a consolation with a sound England win.
Final: England 11-4 Wales
England Scorers: Jenny Simpson 4, Alex Drewe 2, Torz Anderson, Anna Featherstone, Camilla Hayes, Kirsten Lafferty, Liv Wimpenny.
Meanwhile, the Under 19 A team were able to avenge their tight loss to Wales on the opening day in style with an impressive 14-3 victory against Scotland.
The attack were in full flow, working well as a unit and looking much more threatening, from which they raced into a 7-0 half-time lead.
Scotland did score three times in the third quarter, matching their hosts for scoring, but a 4-0 shut-out in Q4 put the icing on the cake and sets the team up well for their final match against Germany.
Final: England 14-3 Scotland
England Scorers: Mai Ledsham (4,0), Bella Frewer (3,2), Emily Oram (2,1), Amelia Hatlapa (2,0), Bryony Smith (2,0), Izzy Cloke (1,1) Mia Rogers (0,1).
Other Day 2 Scores:
Under 19 B: Scotland 5-13 Wales
Snr W B: Scotland 6-11 Wales
Snr W A: Scotland 13-12 Germany
U19 A: Wales 10-6 Germany
Day 3 Schedule can be found here: https://www.englandlacrosse.co.uk/events-1/2019/4/5/mens-amp-womens-home-internationals