Ladies 4s Flying High

Unbeaten in the league so far confidence was high for the Ladies 4s as they headed to Linlithgow for a top of the table clash.

Quick off the mark, Holly sped into the D and fired. Jude was there for the rebound which was almost head butted into the goal but unfortunately a high stick call killed the first attacking drive within 30 seconds of push back! This shook the Linlithgow defence and we won a short but were again denied by a slow pitch, reminiscent of the old Tipperlinn sandpit.

Linlithgow showed why they were at the top of the table and quickly got the ball down and had a shot on goal only to be denied by the first Watsonians save of the game. Some solid play by the maroon defence prevented 'gow from finding the net (despite the quality skillz on show when Lynsey and I ran directly into each other on a short...)

It proved to be end to end stuff but finally Holly wriggled free of the 'gow defence and on a beautiful solo run smashed the ball across the goal. We had bought ourselves a bit of breathing space but the hard work was not over yet. We were unlucky with the amount of shorts awarded against us, nevertheless we stood strong and battled every one of the well rehearsed Linlithgow shots away, sterling effort girls! Finally we got our own short and capitalised with a goal from Julia!

2-0 at half time but no resting on our laurels, we played a lot better in the second half and retained more possession, Olivia and Holly were unlucky not to put the ball in the net on a few occasions. We were massively unlucky with a few umpiring calls at the change of end which led to some frustration, but we accepted the calls with grace from a new umpire. We managed to shut the threat down from two resulting shorts. As we became familiar with the pitch we started slotting some lovely passes which resulted in Olivia getting the ball free in space and taking it into the D herself for a thundering strike to wrap it up at 3-0.

Fantastic effort from everyone, great tracking back from midfield when required and everyone pushing forward to make space. Our first true test and we did ourselves proud. Not quite top of the league but tied on points (sitting second on GD) with a game in hand. What's more - our unbeaten run moves to four. Delighted!!!

Katie D

Man of the Match - Katie Dunlop (GK) & Lynsey Kemp (Sweeper)