Claire Emslie: It’s magic that we’ve managed to inspire the nation

Claire Emslie scored Scotland’s first ever goal in Women’s World Cup finals and hopes for the memories to continue.

Not that the gravitas of that achievement dawned on her at the time, as experienced professional Lucy Bronze tried to prevent her retrieving the ball to delay the restart.

Asked after the match if it had sunk in, she told reporters:

“No, not at all. Just when the ball went in I didn’t even think to celebrate, I just tried to grab the ball and tried to see if we could score another one obviously to get the result.

(I was) just disappointed we never got a result. That’s really where it’s at now. It’s not really sunk in yet.”

But it was clear that the goal lifted not only her but the rest of hr Scotland colleagues who frankly were looking at a much worse scoreline after a first half where they were mostly chasing white shirts.

“There’s positive to take from the second half it’s great that we scored a goal but I’m sure there will be more to come in the next couple of games.

I think we were both attacking in the second half, we kept the ball a bit better, we played a bit calmer and we kept tight, we didn’t lose the ball in the second half so we can carry that on to the next game.”

She also had to fend off repeated questions from English journalists about the unfairness of VAR, all of which she successfully repelled, without giving them the quote they seemingly wanted to manouevre her into.

Video: Dundee girl astounds fans with 276 keep-uppies in Nice fanzone

Sports Minister Joe Fitzpatrick writes for Prost

Scotland fans gather in Nice two days before opener – gallery

But, despite the sweat and the disappointment, Emslie was upbeat when she talked about her emotions when the Flower of Scotland was played, and she could hear the number of Scots in the crowd:

“It was brilliant to hear the echo from the fans coming back to us, the fans were absolutely fantastic seeing so many of them out in their kilts and their Scotland tops and their flags.

“It’s magic that we’ve managed to inspire the nation to come out here and give them something to cheer about so it was brilliant.

“The support from the fans has been top class.”

Emslie and those fans now head to Rennes and its downpours where the 2015 beaten finalists Japan wait for them. The Japanese fell well below expectations in their first game, drawing 0-0 with Argentina.

All Scotland Women’s Team

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