SCOTS MISSED CHANCE TO BEAT ENGLAND

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KELSEY MACDONALD ... back at her brilliant best in beating World No 4 Georgia Hall. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency. England will meet Wales in the title decider at the Women's Home Internationals at Cork Golf Club, Ireland tomorrow. They are the only two teams with 100 per cent records at the end of the first two days. Scotland and Ireland, both without a win, will play for the wooden spoon. And yet the Scots, beaten 6-3 by Wales on Day 1, were on the verge of victory against the star-studded England team before they lost 5-4 after a nail-biting final hour's play. "We were so near to pulling off a great win," said Scotland skipper Fiona Norris. "I couldn't play Alyson McKechin whose left foot and heel are badly blistered. We might have won had she been fit but all credit to the girls who did play against England. "There were some excellent individual victories. Kelsey MacDonald beat Georgia Hall, No 4 in the world, by one hole and Rachael Watton beat Curtis Cup player Holly Clyburn by 6 and 5. "I had to play both our youngsters, Rachel Walker and Lauren Whyte, in the singles and they did their best." In fact, Scotland and England were tied at 3 1/2 pt apiece with only two games to finish - and in these games Lauren Whyte was all square against Amber Ratcliffe after 12 holes and Jane Turner was one up after 11 against Curtis Cup player Bronte Law. Turner lost the 16th, 17th and 18th to go down by two holes to Law while Whyte had to settle for a square match after losing the last hole to a brilliant up and down from a bad lie off the green by Ratcliffe. Wales beat Ireland 6-3 in the other match. SCROLL DOWN PAST THE PICTURE OF FIONA NORRIS TO READ THE LGU REPORT OF THE SCOTLAND v ENGLAND MATCH WOMEN'S HOME INTERNATIONALS Cork Golf Club, Little Island Day 2 ENGLAND 5, SCOTLAND 4 Foursomes - Georgia Hall and Emily Taylor halved with Kelsey MacDonald and Rachael Watton, Kelly Tidy and Alexandra Peters bt Laura Murray and Alyson McKechin 7 and 5, Holly Clyburn and Bronte Law lost to Eilidh Briggs and Jane Turner 3 and 2 (1 1/2-1 1/2) Singles - Hall lost to MacDonald 1 hole, Tidy bt Briggs 3 and 1, Clyburn lost to Watton 6 and 5, Taylor bt Rachel Walker 7 and 5, Amber Ratcliffe halved with Lauren Whyte, Law bt Turner 2 holes (3 1/2-2 1/2) IRELAND 3, WALES 6 Foursomes - Mary Dowling and Jessica Carty lost to Amy Boulden and Becky Harries 2 and 1, Gillian O'Leary and Sarah Cunningham lost to Chloe Williams and Katie Bradbury 2 holes, Deirdre Smith and Chloe Ryan bt Katherine O'Connor and Samantha Birks 2 and 1 (2-1) Singles - Dowling halved with Boulden, O'Leary lost to Williams 6 and 4, Lucy Simpson lost to Katie Bradbury 5 amd 4, Maria Dunne bt Birks, 2 and 1, Carty halved with Jess Evans, Ryan lost to Harries 6 and 4 (2-4) FINAL MATCHES ON THURSDAY 08.30 and 13.10 Scotland v Ireland 09.00 and 14.10 England v Wales HOW THEY STAND England 2pt, Wales 2pt, Scotland 0pt, Ireland 0pt.             Scotland team captain at Cork - FIONA NORRIS                       Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency FROM THE LGU WEBSITE  England survived a nail-biting finish to beat Scotland 5-4 and set up a Friday morning title decider against Wales, 6-3 winners over Ireland, in the Women's Home Internationals at Cork in southern Ireland. England and Wales are the only two teams with 100 per cent winning records at the end of Day 2. Scotland and Ireland, without a point between them, will be playing to avoid the wooden spoon. And yet the Scots, robbed of the services of Alyson McKechin with bad blisters on her left foot and heel, and with a sickness bug laying low first Rachael Watton and then coach Kevin Craggs, came so close to beating the star-studded England team who are defending the title they won at Hillside, Lancashire 12 months ago. On a bright and quite warm day, Scotland showed they were up for the task of following David's example against Goliath when they shared the foursomes 1 1/2pt apiece with England. Scotland carried on their much improved form compared with Wednesday's 6-3 defeat by England when Kelsey MacDonald beat the World No 4, Georgia Hall, by one-hole in a match that would have made a great final to any match-play contest. This was the "old" Kelsey - the one that won the Scottish championship, the one that reached the final of the British championship at Ganton, the one that was a Curtis Cup team contender in 2008 and 2012. MacDonald never let her opponent lead. Three times on a nip-and-tuck outwarf half, Georgia pulled the match back to square but she could never get her nose in front. Then Kelsey won the seventh to go two up for the first time and one sensed it was a case of "What I have, I hold." And so it proved. MacDonald was pulled back to a one-hold lead several times but she kept finding enough to hold her younger opponent at bay and an absorbing tie finished with four halved holes after Hall had won the 14th to be only one down entering the home run. If that was a classic encounter - which it was - then the Kelly Tidy v Eilidh Briggs match ran it a close second. Tidy won by 3 and 1 in the end but it was a closer call than the scoreline suggests. The English amateur champion got into the driving seat early on - two up after four - but young Briggs held on to her coat-tails to keep pulling her back from two up to one up through the middle part of the match. Only one up playing the 14th, Kelly then raised her game like the class performer she is to win the 14th and 15th, suddenly three up with breathing space instead of one down and under pressure. Eilidh was not ready to throw in the towel and she birdied the 16th to keep her hopes alive at two down with two to play but Tidy stamped them out with a win at the 17th. Rachael Watton should have started her new term at the University of Denver for whom she won on the US college golf circuit last year. But Rachael, who last played for Scotland in the winning team at Whitchurch, Cardiff two years ago, was very keen to play for Scotland at Cork, asked for and was given permission from the Denver student authorities to delay her return to college. Maybe she saw in her crystal ball that she would score a memorable 6 and 5 win over Holly Clyburn, one of GB and I's Curtis Cup heroines at Nairn in June. Holly wins far more matches than she loses and very seldom does an open take her to the cleaners as Watton did. Watton won holes 1-2-4-5-7-8-9, losing only the third, to be an astonishing six holes up on Clyburn at the turn. Holly had a match-play tiger by the tail and the best she could do was hold on and halve holes, rather than lose any more. Halves at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th ended the one-sided contest on the 13th green. But it was England's turn for a big win and Emily Taylor delivered it - a 7 and 5 win over Rachel Walker, one of the debutantes in the Scotland line-up. The Dumfries teenager won the first hole but that was her high point. Taylor won the next five holes in a row and then went five up at the 11th, six ahead at the 12th and a seventh win, at the 13th, ended the match. At that point the overall scoreline read: England 3 1/2pt, Scotland 3 1/2pt with two matches to finish. And in these two matches Scotland's girl champion Lauren Whyte, making her debut at adult level this week, was all square after 12 holes against Amber Ratcliffe, while the experienced Jane Turner was one up after 11 on Curtis Cup star Bronte Law. Turner's match was the first to finish. She got to two up on the 13th tee but Law was about to "arrest" her progress. Bronte won the 13th and the 14th - all square. Turner showed ahead again by winning the 15th but that was as far as it got for the Scot. Law won the 16th, 17th and 18th for a two-hole win that had not seemed likely in the first half, and even beyond that, of the match. So that put the pressure on 16-year-old Lauren Whyte to delive the victory that would Scotland an honourable draw. The St Andrews youngster had been one or two down to Amber Ratcliffe for the first 11 holes or so. Then Whyte birdied the 12th to square the match - battle on! After two gritty halves, Whyte birdied the 15th to lead for the first time in the match. Could she be Scotland's saviour? No, but it was not for lack of effort. Ratcliffe won the 16th to get back on terms, only for Whyte to birdie the 17th and lead again, ensuring she would not be beaten. But for Amber the lights were at green for go. She got up and down brilliantly for a winning par at the last from a difficult lie off the green. Halved match between two talented teenagers