\n<\/p>\n
Scotland scored a dramatic late equaliser to snatch a draw with top seeds Belgium and continue their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying.<\/b><\/p>\n
Sari Kees’ 15th-minute goal looked to have separated the sides in a tightly-contested match but Kathleen McGovern scored in second-half injury time to earn the hosts a well-deserved point and ensure they did not pay a heavy cost for an early defensive lapse. <\/p>\n
Scotland went into the game in confident mood after putting 12 goals past Luxembourg in the group’s first double-header. That belief was evident in the early exchanges as the hosts won a couple of corners and started to establish a hold on midfield with Kirsty MacLean seeing plenty of the ball.<\/p>\n
The positive mood was dented with Belgium’s first serious attack on 15 minutes. <\/p>\n
A corner to the front post was not dealt with properly and Kees was quickest to the loose ball, taking a touch before knocking a finish past Sandy MacIver into the bottom corner.<\/p>\n
Scotland reacted well to going a goal behind, pushing forward continually and causing problems for the Belgian back line as Caroline Weir and Erin Cuthbert linked up to good effect.<\/p>\n
Good work down the right flank culminated with Emma Lawton whipping in an enticing ball for Cuthbert, but she couldn’t make a clean connection and saw her attempt go well wide when she should have tested Nicky Evrard, who looked shaky in the Belgium goal.<\/p>\n
Striker McGovern headed a chance wide after a miscued clearance, and soon after Miri Taylor saw her deflected shot touched over the bar. Belgium were on the back foot and only numbers and some desperate blocks kept Scotland out.<\/p>\n
The visitors did have another opportunity just before the break when Valesca Ampoorter headed over from a corner after a rare foray forward, but Belgium still may have considered themselves fortunate to hold the half-time lead.<\/p>\n
After the break Scotland continued to put the pressure on, and McGovern was inches away from getting a good connection on a Weir corner with Belgium keeper Evrard again looking vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Despite substitutions from both sides, the tempo dipped as the clock ticked on, with Scotland beginning to look tired and short on ideas.<\/p>\n
However, head coach Melissa Andreatta made attacking changes and Scotland threw everything forward in the closing stages.<\/p>\n
Belgium looked like they would hang on for all three points, but deep into injury time, the hosts got the goal they had been pushing for. <\/p>\n
Substitute Lauren Davidson raced into space on the right and fizzed a low ball across goal that McGovern slid home at the back post to spark celebrations and rescue a point.<\/p>\n
Scotland remain top of Group B4 before Saturday’s return match in Leuven and will hope momentum from a late fightback can carry into what is set to be a pivotal game in the campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Scotland scored a dramatic late equaliser to snatch a draw with top seeds Belgium and continue their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying. Sari Kees’ 15th-minute goal looked to have separated the sides in a tightly-contested match but Kathleen McGovern scored in second-half injury time to earn the hosts a well-deserved point and ensure they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}