Scotland 'keep it fun' to overcome pressure and Wales in must-win Commonwealth Games netball clash

The Scots had little margin for error after losing their opening match to New Zealand but in front of a noisy home crowd, they were always in control against a Welsh side they lost to four years ago.

Scotland have aspirations of finishing the top two of the six-team group and while New Zealand appear likely to be one of the duo, the Scots are battling with Jamaica and Uganda for the other berth.

It meant Scotland stepped on to the court with a degree of pressure and they dominated the first period to lead16-8. Wales threatened a fightback in the second period and got the scoreline to within three points, before Scotland regrouped and went in 28-21 ahead at half time as the Welsh coughed up too many penalties.

Scotland increased their lead to 43-33 after the third quarter and maintained their supremacy to win 56-47.

They are back in action on Monday night when they face Trinidad and Tobago at 9pm - a match they are expected to win ahead of facing the Ugandans and Jamaicans later next week.

"We tried to keep it really calm and focused on ourselves rather than the outcome, and that really helped us today," said goal attack Niamh McCall. "We like to keep it calm, really fun, upbeat. So we tried to stay away from the pressure, but I'm really glad the girls stepped up today."

McCall expects a different test of Scotland's credentials against Trinidad, describing their playing style as "very out there". She added: "We're not really sure what's coming, so just making sure we stick to our structure and hope we win some ball."

The highlight of Sunday's netball action was in Pool A as defending champions Australia took on England.

Australia are heavily tipped to emerge with the gold medal and they laid down a statement of intent with a landslide 66-47 win over one of their rivals for the title.

“We knew we had to be on from the very first whistle,” said Australia centre Jo Weston, who revealed she had been checking out tartan during her time in Glasgow.

England will have to regroup before they face Malawi on Monday, while Australia have the day off.