Pre-Season Friendly.
Falkirk Ladies V Paisley Saints.
Sunday 12th August 2007.
Dunipace Juniors Ground.
Aweek is a long time in football terms and Coach Wilson was desperate to get his squad back on the pitch and get back to winning ways after the disappointment of the Invitational Tournament last weekend.
With almost a full squad to choose from, barring the injured Fiona Melville and Arlene Livingston who is on holiday, Coach Wilson was confident that his side would see off the challenge posed by the 2nd Division outfit from Paisley. One surprising inclusion in the starting line-up was Susan Renny who was forced to play in goal for this match.
The match started in a steady fashion with the ladies settling into their stride and pressing forward. With the game barely 4 minutes gone Fiona Kane received a sickening kick in the face which resulted in her leaving the field with blood coming from her mouth.
The first real chance of any note (11 min) fell to Kerry Graham after a lay-off from Alana Marshall but her resulting shot was blocked and cleared for a corner. Young Stacey Devine was also withdrawn from the action (14 min) as she was complaining of stomach pains.
After a series of attacks on the Paisley goal the scoring was finally broken (20 min) by the home side as Kerry Graham found space to cross over from the right and Alana Marshall was on hand to finish well (1-0). Within 2 minutes the score line was doubled as Laura Yuill raced on to a through ball (22 min) and finished well into the bottom corner of the net (2-0).
With the visitors trying to re-organise their backline the Falkirk Ladies scored a third goal (24 min) as Kerry Graham managed to force the ball over the line after a scramble in the penalty area (3-0).
To say that Coach Wilson was delighted with the 3 goals in as many minutes is a slight understatement and he was urging his side to continue pressing forward and capitalise on their superiority in the match.
Strangely, the ladies took the foot of the gas a little and the match looked like it was going to play off until the half-time break.
Ashley McDonald had been a thorn in the side of the full back for most of the half and her lightning pace was to cause trouble again (42 min) as she drove down on goal and unleashed a powerful shot which the keeper saved.
Half-Time: - Falkirk Ladies (3) V (0) Paisley Saints.
Early in the 2nd period (50 min) saw the introduction of both Angie Reid and Ruadh Houston with Shirley Martin and Kelly Fullerton taking a well earned break.
A corner from Alana Marshall (55 min) found its way to the edge of the penalty area and Angie Reid’s resulting shot went wide. The 4th goal off the game arrived on 60 minutes in bizarre fashion. During an odd attack forward Paisley Saints had a corner on the right. As the ball was played into the box, Susan Renny appeared to be impeded by an attacker and while everyone stopped, anticipating a foul to be called, the ball found its way in into the net and the goal stood (3-1).
An inspired substitution from Coach Wilson saw Kerry Graham being withdrawn and replaced by Vicky Ross (61 min). Within 60 seconds and with her first touch, Vicky Ross found herself free in the penalty area and her firm shot found the back of the net to restore the 3-goal advantage (4-1).
Due to the visitors only having 11 fit players for today’s clash, they were then reduced to 10 players after one of their strikers came off second best to a challenge from skipper Harris (65 min).
The final 20 minutes of the match was a case of one-way traffic towards the Paisley Saints goal and if the home side had a little more composure in front of goal the score line would have been a great deal higher.
Full-Time: - Falkirk Ladies (4) V (1) Paisley Saints.
Coach Wilson Commented – I was delighted to get back to winning ways today and especially happy to see the goals being spread amongst most of the front players in the squad. The performance of Becky Robertson at the heart of the defence was nothing short of outstanding as she looked relaxed and composed on the ball.
If I was to pick any faults with the performance it would be the lack of composure in front of the goal as we did create chances to score more goals and also the apparent inability to read the defensive line and stay on side.
Next up for the ladies is the challenge of Celtic Ladies B Team who visits Dunipace next Sunday in a pre-season friendly.
Kick off 2pm.
