Game Thirty-Two – Ayr United vs. Peterhead

Ayr United 0 vs. 0 Peterhead

Irn-Bru Scottish League Second Division
Saturday 21st March 2009, Kick-Off 3pm
Somerset Park, Ayr

This week I decided to plan my game out days in advance. I also thought I would do a wee bit of travelling. Take in a game a good few miles away from the West of Scotland. I had initially thought about going to Newcastle for their Saturday evening encounter with Arsenal. The cost at £34-£59 a match ticket and £56.50 rail fare Glasgow to Newcastle put me off a bit. As well as the (admittedly minor) hassles of having to buy both tickets in advance.

Then I thought about Gretna 2008. Staying out until 2.30am on the Friday night put paid to that one. Even although I didn’t have to get up that early to catch the train, it was early enough.

A quick scan of the Junior fixtures when I got in on Friday night drew me to Saltcoats Victoria vs. Ardeer Thistle. ‘That’ll do,’ I thought. ‘Nice trip down to the seaside on a sunny Saturday afternoon.’

I’ve done a quick check of where the ground is in relation to Saltcoats train station and I manage to follow the right path straight out of the station. You cut across a golf course to find Campbell Park which is tucked away beside a caravan park.

As I approach the ground I realise that there doesn’t seem to be much activity. The next thing I notice is that the goals have no nets in them. At 1.15pm it’s 45 minutes before kick-off. I sense that something is amiss. On sticking my head through the railings I can see that there are no pitch markings on the grass. There’s no game on here today I quickly realise.

I notice now that Ardeer Thistle’s website has the game down as an away fixture but being played at their home ground. Presumably Campbell Park is no longer in use.

So there has to be a quick change of plan. It’s too late to get to another Junior match. Largs are at home and not too far away, but I have no clue how to find their ground from the train station. I remember noticing that Ayr United are at home and a quick check of my paper confirms this. The seniors kick-off at 3pm as opposed to the Juniors’ kick-off time of 2pm so that gives me more time.

I go back to Saltcoats station and get a train to Kilwinning. From there it’s only a short train ride to Newton-on-Ayr and Somerset Park. No one comes to take my train fare either down there or on the way back, so it doesn’t cost me any extra. This is the second time I’ve been down to Ayr this season and therefore the first time this season I’ve been to see a team at home in the same venue twice. (If that makes sense.)

Last time I was here there was 6 goals when East Fife were the visitors and Ayr were one of the best footballing teams I’ve seen all season.

Ayr are currently top of the Second Division with Raith Rovers close on their heels. Peterhead, some ten points behind United still harbour slim hopes of taking the league title, but more realistically will have to settle for a play-off spot.

The home team hit the post early on, but for the most part it’s pretty turgid stuff.

It’s all Ayr United in the second half. Peterhead barely have the ball in the opposition’s half. Although The Blue Toon defended well, Ayr’s strikers were in poor form and many of their shots were well off target.

The fans behind the goal are not very forgiving and grow increasingly impatient as the game wears on.

It appears that a lot of the Ayr fans hate Chris Aitken. Really hate him. There is as much abuse aimed at him from the home fans as there is encouragement for their own team. They call for manager Brian Reid to substitute him, and in the 63rd minute when the gaffer replaces Kenneth Connolly, one fan shouts out “Naw! Take Aitken aff!”

One Ayr fan grows tired of the constant abuse being levelled at the former Hamilton and Stirling Albion man. “Get behind the team,” he shouts at his fellow fans, “we”re not just one man.”

Michal Kula, Peterhead’s Polish goalkeeper also comes in for some barracking from the fans behind his goal. Frustrated by the perceived length of time he takes at a goal-kick one Ayr fan shouts out “Bet yer no’ this slow when you’re taking in the fishing nets.”

Peterhead go down to ten men when Graeme Sharp picks up a straight red card after a late, lunging tackle. In the last minute they are reduced to nine men as Stuart McKay picks up a second booking.

Ayr throw everything they have at Peterhead’s goal, but they can’t find a goal and although I witnessed a goalfest the first time I was down here this season, a no-score draw on the second.

The match report from Ayr’s website can be found here. The report on the Peterhead site is here.

Ayr United: Grindlay, Keenan, James, Walker, McGowan, Borris, Aitken, Stevenson, Kenneth Connolly (Easton 63), Prunty (Williams 75), Roberts (Gormley 75). Subs Not Used: Mitchell, Woodburn.

Peterhead: Kula, Donald, Smith, MacDonald, Moore, Sharp, Anderson, McVitie (Cowie 62), McKay, Gunn, Bavidge. Subs Not Used: Jarvie, Ross, Bagshaw, Skinner.

Sent Off: Sharp (77), McKay (89).

Attendance: 1,605

Referee: C Charleston

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Game Thirty-One – Petershill vs. Clydebank

Petershill 1 vs. 2 Clydebank

Scottish Junior Cup Quarter-Final
Saturday 14th March 2009, Kick-Off 2.30pm
Petershill Park, Springburn

I’m becoming something of a regular at Petershill Park, as this is my fourth visit there this season. The first to see Petershill though.

This match stood out when I looked through the fixtures a week ago. As a Clydebank supporter I knew that this is a pretty big match for them.

With William Hills Clydebank are 7-2 to win the match and reach the last four for the first time since they became a junior team in 2002. Petershill are 1/3 to win the tie. For the cup itself The Peasy are quoted at 7-2 with Bankies 20-1 outsiders. So not many folk are giving the away team much of a chance today.

The Clydebank fans have travelled in numbers. I think it’s fair to say the away support outnumber the home fans.

There is a strong wind blowing. The corner flags are having trouble standing upright. Being Astrograss they aren’t hammered into the ground. A Petershill official wants to use cones in their place, but the referee is hearing none of it. Some young boys are enlisted to pick the flags up whenever they fall down.

Clydebank come at Petershill from the first whistle. They have an excellent chance in the 3rd minute, but the Peasy keeper makes a good save.

What appears to be a Clydebank Boys Team (they’re all wearing tracksuits) spend much of the first half indulging in high-pitched singing, chasing each other around and climbing over the barriers to get onto the pitchside.

In the 14th minute Clydebank win a corner on the left. Mark Hailstones takes it. The wind helps the ball curl into the goalmouth and past the keeper’s despairing dive to drop straight into the net. Bankies take a shock lead.

“It’s the fucking wind that scored that,” mumbles one Petershill fan beside me. There’s no denying that the wind played a major part in the goal. Before the match I watched Clydebank’s gaffer Budgie McGhie put his corner kick takers at either side through their paces and it’s paid off handsomely.

Nineteen minutes later Clydebank’s new signing Chris Mackie finds himself in a packed penalty area. He swings his boot at the ball and appears to connect poorly. The ball, however, rises and lands in the top corner of Petershill’s net. The Peasy players are stunned. They’re now two down. Mackie leads his team-mates in a celebratory charge up the pitch to the Clydebank dugout.

The Clydebank Boys Team are now shouting abuse at a resident of a nearby house.

Late on in the first half Stefan Gonet in the Bankies goal makes a great save to stop Petershill getting back into it.

In the second half the ball is barely out of Clydebank’s half. Gonet makes several good saves to keep the scoreline intact.

Petershill put everything they have into finding a way back into this match, but when another shot goes astray you can tell it’s not going to be their day as several players cry out in frustration.

They have so many attacks it’s almost inevitable that they’re going to score. In the 90th minute the ball falls to Stevie Dallas, a Clydebank man in his testimonial season at Petershill. Dallas hammers it and Gonet can only watch as it flies into the net.

The twenty yard screamer is met by silence. It’s too late for Petershill to get an equaliser now, surely. But they push forward once more and gain a corner. Their keeper comes up to join in the attack, the first time I’ve seen that this season. But they can’t find that one goal they need.

Clydebank have provided the shock of the round and they now find themselves in the Scottish Junior Cup semi-finals.

As the final whistle sounds the Clydebank fans spill onto the pitch. It seems daft not to join them so I follow on as the support surround Gonet who takes their acclaim.

Bankies now face a two-leg semi-final against either Pollok, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy or the winners of the drawn Arthulie-Auchinleck Talbot tie.

This is the match report on the Clydebank website.

Clydebank supporter John Dunbar films all Clydebank’s games and then very quickly edits them into highlights. It’s thanks to him that the goals and brief highlights are down at the bottom of this post. You can find more of his footage from other Clydebank games on his website.

Petershill: Parry, Wild (McCabe 77), McMenamin, Joyce, Coulter, McPhee (Lindsay 75), Murray (McGowan 60), Dallas, McCarroll, Keenan

Scorer: Dallas (90)

Clydebank: Gonet, Soutar, Lynn, Rushford, McInnes, A. Jack, Smith, Anderson (McIntrye 84), Mackie (Selkirk 74), Hobbs (Cunningham 58), Hailstones

Scorers: Hailstones (14), Mackie (33)

Referee: Derek Nicholls (Motherwell)

Assistants: David Cockburn, Peter Hefford

Game Thirty – Maryhill Legends vs. Pollok Legends

Maryhill Legends 1 vs. 1 Pollok Legends

Richie McCusker Game of Support
Sunday March 8th 2009, Kick-Off 1.45pm
Lochburn Park, Maryhill

When I read about this game taking place in the Evening Times I thought it would be a good one to go along to.

Richie McCusker was an icon of the fans at both Maryhill and Clyde. He signed for Maryhill in 1992, scoring on his debut. He moved to Clyde in 1998 as part of the ‘Junior revolution’ as eleven players from the Junior ranks joined up at the Second Division team. Here he helped Clyde to the 1999/2000 Second Division title.

Injury meant that he lost his place at Broadwood and he returned to Maryhill in 2002. In his two spells at Lochburn Park he won the West of Scotland Cup, two Central Premier League titles, a Central League C Division, a Central League Cup and a hat-trick of Evening Times Cup Winners Cup wins from 1996-98.

He retired at 34. He also had spells at Hamilton Thistle, Hamilton Accies and Coventry Juvenilles.

On Christmas Eve 2007, while doing his last minute Christmas shopping McCusker began to feel unsteady on his feet and numb down his right side. He ran into one of his old Clyde team-mates who thought McCusker’s slurred speech was due to him being drunk. As he hadn’t touched a drop McCusker went to the Southern General where doctors diagnosed a stroke and placed him in intensive care. Nine months later as he was slowly recovering he was hit by a second stroke.

Today’s game was put together by his ex-Maryhill team-mate and current Roby Roy manager John Richardson, as well as the former Maryhill management team Ronnie McDonald and Alan Maitland.

So I was happy to hand over five quid to support one of the many guys who gave their all for football despite not getting a big paypoke from the game.

Unfortunately it’s an absolutely horrible day. Bitingly cold, the rain comes down, while a strong wind rips round. When I get into Lochburn Park I take advantage of one of the two sheltered picnic tables and sit down to have my lunch and a read at the paper.

The pitch looks as if it’s in pretty bad condition. There are large patches of mud all over.

Despite the weather there is a decent crowd. The Evening Times later numbers the attendance at ‘Close on 350,’ and I won’t argue with that.

McCusker himself leads the two teams out to great applause.

The match is played in good spirits, but it seems to be quite competitive. The weather gets much worse as snow begins to fall heavily.

The half-time whistle sounds surprisingly early and it’s only when I look at my watch I realise we appear to be playing just 30 minutes each way. There’s nothing in the programme about it and there was no announcement over the loudspeaker prior to kick-off. I can only assume the state of the pitch has dictated that a shortened game is in order. I think I’m right in saying that if this had been a league game it wouldn’t have gone ahead.

Within two minutes of the second half starting Pollok take the lead as a shot on the left hand side from former Clyde striker Stevie Convery flies into the net.

Both teams try to play a short passing game, extremely difficult in these conditions.

Chris McFadden goes through on his own midway through the second half to lift the ball over the ‘Lok keeper and make the score 1-1.

Maryhill look to have won it late on but what looked to me like a header is ruled out as handball.

The game ends in a draw with the two teams hugging each other at the final whistle. I don’t stick around afterwards, but the social club hosted an auction with signed shirts from the likes of Brian Laudrup, Lionel Messi, Tommy Coyne, James McFadden and James McArthur.

There is a photo gallery on Maryhill’s website here. More of my photographs are here.

Maryhill Team Pool: John Thomson, John Richardson, John Mitchell, Raymond Day, Pat Keogh, Neil Watt, Tam McAlister, Darren Murray, Allan Grant, Andy McLay, Terry Farrell, Stevie Campbell, Scott Macharg, Gary Carbury, Henry Templeton, Tommy Elliot, Simon Black, Rashid Sawar, Chris McFadden, Billy McLafferty, Gordon McIntyre
 
Pollok Team Pool: Ronnie Lowrie, Graham Smith, Iain Ashcroft, Robert Anderson, Andy McQuade, Steven O’Neil, Stevie Easton, Danny Diver, Davie Elliott, John Morrison, Ian Spittal, Martin Nelson, Kevin O’Neil, Stevie Convery

Game Twenty-Nine – Irvine Victoria vs. Largs Thistle

Irvine Victoria 0 vs. 2 Largs Thistle

Ayrshire Weekly Press Cup, First Round
Saturday 7th March 2009, Kick-Off 2pm
Victoria Park, Irvine

I almost made game twenty-nine last Sunday when I headed out to Summerston to see Drumchapel Athletic AFC take on Red Lion. I was thrown at first as I had presumed their game was on the pitch in the grounds of John Paul Academy. When two under-15 teams trotted out at 1.50 I realised that the game I was looking for was probably on at the pitch I had walked past earlier, just up the hill from there.

Sure enough when I walked back I could hear the shouts of players and caught a glimpse of Drumchapel’s Argentina style strip. However, I then realised that they seemed to be playing a full-on bounce game between themselves, with some of them in bibs. It turns out that Red Lion didn’t have enough players to fulfil the fixture. So Drumchapel were awarded a 3-0 walkover.

So instead game twenty-nine is this trip down to a wet, windy and bleak Irvine for an Ayrshire Weekly Press Cup game.

You pass Victoria Park on your way in to Irvine station from Glasgow. It sits parallel to the railway line and it’s less than a ten minute walk once you’re off the train.

The ground is yet another contender for most run down of the season. It certainly has its charms though. I wander down to the far end of the terracing and stand under one of the two covered sections. A man in a Largs Thistle jacket decides to have a piss right there on the terracing. He finishes just as two women come past.

As the game kicks-off there is the distinct sound of an Orange Walk nearby.

A cup-tie, this match sees Largs Thistle, currently riding high in the West of Scotland First Division, taking on lowly Irvine Victoria, lying fifth in the Ayrshire District League. Largs are clear favourites. The last time Irvine Vics beat Largs in a cup tie was in 1952/53 when they won 2-0 in the first round of the Ayrshire District Cup.

In the tenth minute Largs win a penalty. A stonewaller if ever I’ve seen one. It’s firmly tucked away, low to the keeper’s left and any thoughts of a cup shock are probably over.

Bert and Hughie, the Irvine ground staff seem to spend most of the match retrieving balls from around the ground. I believe at one point Hughie gathers one from off the railway line.

Midway through the first half Irvine’s Scott Hayes collides with Thistle’s John Paul Dow, the referee only awards a free-kick when Dow picks up the ball. “Is he the fucking ref now?” shouts one of the Irivne players.

It’s 2-0 on the half-hour mark when a long ball comes over from the right which drops for Alan Barnes to hammer the ball across the keeper and high into the net.

In the second half it’s all Largs Thistle as Irvine toil to get back into the game. The Largs fans are in a buoyant mood and display this by berating any Irvine player within earshot.

“Look at you smiling,” one of them shouts at an Irvine forward, “You’re only getting beat two-nuthin ya fat ride!”

Scott Hayes is substituted with 18 minutes remaining. He appears to have some words for his manager before forgoing the dugout to walk down the pitch and go into the dressing room. As he walks past the Largs support one of them shouts out to him.

“Respect your manager son.”

“Fuck off back to Largs,” the Vics number 6 replies.

The Largs fan explains Hayes’s indiscretions to his pal. “He’s calling his manager an arsehole and aw that.”

“He is an arsehole. He’s fucking right.”

The Irvine keeper makes several good saves to keep the score down, but the home side can find no way back into it and it finishes 2-0 Largs.

Old Bert from the Irvine backroom staff doesn’t take too kindly to the away fans’ gloating at the final whistle. “The road to Largs is that way,” he points.

“The road to the pie shop is that way,” a Largs fan shoots back. They have several attempts at it though also suggesting, “The road to Weight Watchers is that way.”

A report from The Largs and Millport News is here. More of my photographs are here.

Irvine Victoria: Murray, Rodgers, Rocks (Timoney 72), Smith, McMeeking, Hayes (Cunningham 72), Gilmour, McGrath, Lennox, White (Robertson 72), Boyd Unused subs: Barclay, Madden

Largs Thistle: Connick, Molloy, Hendren, Gault, McMillan, S. Kyle, Robertson (Marks 83), Black, JP. Dow (M. Kyle 67), Davidson, Barnes (McCabe 63) Unused Subs: M. Dow, Lappin

Scorers: JP. Dow (10 pen), Barnes (30)

Referee: Stuart Hodge

Game Twenty Eight – Larkhall Thistle vs. Vale of Leven

Larkhall Thistle 2 vs. 0 Vale of Leven

Stagecoach West of Scotland League Central District – First Division
Saturday 28th February 2009, Kick-Off 2pm
Gasworks Park, Larkhall

Larkhall is about 40 minutes from Glasgow on the train and Gasworks Park is less than five minutes walk away from the train station.

When I get into the ground they have Radio Clyde playing over the loudspeakers. A nice touch even if it does mean listening to the inane ramblings of big Derek Johnstone.

There is an amusing note in the match programme from the editor. “Yet again our squad has diminished due to players leaving for no real reason other than taking the huff at not playing every week!”

I notice one elderly supporter has his own seat, presumably taken out of the social club for him to take his seat on the terracing.

The first action comes in three minutes when a Larkhall header seems destined for the net only to be headed off the line. Larkhall have a decent shout for a penalty in 14 minutes, when there’s a crunching tackle in the box, but I think the referee called it right.

There is very of note in the first half other than some Vale of Leven supporters screaming abuse at the referee.

The Vale keeper picks up a back-pass on the stroke of half-time, but the resultant indirect free-kick goes nowhere and it’s scoreless at the interval.

The second half starts as scrappy as the first. I go over to stand with the Larkhall backroom staff, reserves and the youth team next to the dugout.

In the 71st minute Rab Graham plays a good ball through from midfield and Brian Watret knocks it in for 1-0 Larkhall.

Vale are up against it now and four minutes later they conceded a free-kick on the edge of the box. As the Larkhall striker steps up to take it the management team speculate on the result. “This is either ripping the net or hitting that bingo sign across the street.”

A minute later Larkhall have another free-kick out on the left. It’s played short and a shot is fired at goal. In the box Watret throws himself at it and his header wrong foots the keeper and flies into the net. 2-0 Larkhall.

A row breaks out between the Vale and Larkhall backroom teams over Larkhall’s alleged reluctance to get the ball back into play when it’s gone out.

“Get the ball back in. Get the ball.”

“There’s the ball there ya fuckin rocket!”

Not a great match, but not terrible either.

Larkhall Thistle: Soave, Crilly, Devlin, Coyle, Coulter, Graham (Paterson 85), Dorrans (Russell 89), Crossey, Forrester, Watrtet, Kondol (Shields 67)

Scorer: Watret 71,76

Vale of Leven: Carr, Wilson, Lacy, Drain, Buchanan (Ward 81), Lees, Filshie (Wilson 81), Russell, Gourlay (McKenzie 67), McNaught, Pawsey

Attendance: A headcount suggests around 60.

Game Twenty-Seven – Duncanrig FP vs. Pollok Ams

Duncanrig FP 0 vs. 4 Pollok Ams

Centenary Trophy Semi-Final
Monday 23rd February 2009, Kick-Off 7pm
Glasgow Green Football Centre, Bridgeton

This evening I headed along to one of the floodlit pitches at Glasgow Green’s Football Centre. There was a healthy crowd stood around the touchline for this one. A rough headcount would suggest around 70 or so.

Before the match kicks off the linesman catches sight of a punter enjoying a roll and sausage. “Where d’you get that?” he enthusastically enquires. The spectator nods in the direction of the burger van which sits outside the Football Centre doing a roaring trade all evening.

From what I’ve read about the two sides Pollok are considered the favourites for this match. Duncanrig start brightly, but disaster strikes in only the second minute. Their number seven takes a swipe at the ball in his own penalty area, sending it up over his head and toward his goal. The keeper throws his arms up to collect it but he manages only to spin it over his head where it eventually gets tapped into the net by Pollok’s Robert Wyatt.

There then follows a full 5 minutes of injury time as the keeper is attended to. Presumably he has picked up some sort of knock and isn’t simply being treated for embarassment.

Once the game gets going again it takes only a further three minutes for Pollok to score again. A long ball is chased by Wyatt who heads it over the onrushing keeper. Two-nil and it looks over as a contest.

Some nice play at the edge of the box results in a shot by Keiran McGrath that flies into the Duncanrig net on 19 minutes. Three-nil.

I find the Duncanrig substitutes kicking balls and running up and down beside me a constant distraction, so I walk round to the other side of the pitch. Here I find a couple of spectators kicking a ball round about me before the Pollok subs begin to charge up and down the line.

We reach half-time with no further incident. I can listen in to the Pollok team talk, which of course takes place out on the pitch. Their gaffer tells the team, “First ten minutes let’s start a hunner miles an hour.”

Throughout the second half the crowd frequently spill onto the pitch, with the linesman having to position himself two or three yards onto the playing surface most of the time. At one point when he raises his flag to signal an offside a spectator grabs hold of it.

Pollok have as much possession as they like in this half and pepper the Duncanrig goal with shots from distance.

Nothing counts however until the last minute when Gary McKenna takes the ball forward and nicely chips the keeper to tie the game up at 4-0.

Not a bad match but the early goals mean it was never really the hotly contested cup-tie it might have been.

Scorers: Wyatt 2, 10, McGrath 19, McKenna 90

Referee: D.Murray

Assistants: G.MacKay, G.Robertson

Game Twenty-Six – Glasgow City vs. Celtic Ladies

Glasgow City 4 vs. 3 Celtic Ladies (AET)

Unite Scottish Cup Third Round
Sunday 22nd February 2009, Kick-Off 2pm
Petershill Park, Springburn

A Scottish Cup tie between probably the two best teams in the Scottish ladies game. This is my fourth ladies football match this season and the third at Petershill Park.

With the two Cup favourites going head to head there is a decent sized crowd of around 70 or so.

Before the game kicks off the loudspeaker is playing earbleed dance music. For some reason when people try to marry football and music thumping dance is what they plump for. On behalf of football fans almost everywhere – Naw.

Of the four ladies football matches I’ve been to this season today is the first time we’ve had a female referee. She is joined by two assistants, also a rarity, although this is a cup-tie.

The game kicks off with a strong wind blowing.

The standard of the play on offer here today is far higher than most ladies matches and indeed in entertainment value as good as you’ll see anywhere. Both teams are open and attacking, with Glasgow City starting that little bit brighter.

It may be of some interest to know that the girls shout “Man on!” whenever an opposition player is near a team-mate with the ball. “Lady on!” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

The first real chance of the match presents itself in the 14th minute when confusion in the Celtic defence allows the ball to be knocked past their grounded keeper and hit the post. City’s Jane Ross is in swiftly to latch on to the loose ball. Faced with an empty goal and the ball a couple of yards out she manages to knock it into the side netting.

City get themselves in front in the 20th minute when Sue Lappin leaps to head a crossed free kick from Leanne Ross past Claire Johnston in the Celtic goal. The first of several cracking goals this afternoon.

Fifteen minutes later Celtic are on level terms. They win a free kick out on the right hand side of the penalty box and Pauline Hammill fires a shot through the City defence and into the net.

It stays that way at half-time.

The teams go into the changing rooms at the break. Mostly teams at this level have their team-talks on the pitch, but big cup tie this.

Two minutes into the second half and Glasgow City had made it 2-1. Jill Paterson smacked a clearance back at the Celtic goal from around 35 yards. Her shot cracked the crossbar but fell to Rachel Corsie who chested it down and prodded it home.

The Celtic keeper makes a couple of terrific saves to keep her side in it, including pushing out a goal-bound corner kick.

Celtic get their second equaliser in 58 minutes with almost an action replay of their first. They get a free-kick some way out on City’s left-hand side and the ball is rocketed into the goal by Christie Murray.

I get talking to the gentleman standing next to me who turns out to be City forward Jane Ross’s dad.

Good work by both goalkeepers adds to what is by now a very entertaining match.

Celtic are reduced to ten ladies in the 69th minute when Christie Murray picks up a second booking.

Glasgow City take the lead again when a free-kick is sent into the penalty box and Corsie leaps to head it into the Celtic net.

Three minutes later a Celtic long ball is picked up by Jo Love who prods the ball home. It’s 3-3.

I’ve already asked Mr. Ross if he knows what happens if the game finishes a draw and he tells me it’s extra-time.

Two minutes into the extra period Jane Ross found space down the right and sent a low ball across goal for Katharina Lindner to bag the winner.

A seven goal thriller and two well matched teams. The standard of football on display here is much better than some of the men’s matches I’ve been to this season. You could spend worse Sunday afternoons than coming along to a Ladies match.

Reports of the match are on both the Glasgow City and Celtic websites. I have more photographs here.

Glasgow City: Williamson, Montgomery; Lappin, Lindner, Paterson, Sneddon, J. Ross, Littlejohn, Corsie, Gemmell (Fearnon 72), L. Ross Subs not used: Livingstone, McNicol, Campbell, Lappin, Stewart, Brown

Scorers: Lappin (20), Corsie (47, 73), Lindner (107)

Celtic: Johnstone, Ferguson, Robertson, Beattie, Penglase, Love, Crichton, MacMillan (Scott 55), Stokes, Murray, Hamill Subs not used: Cook, McInally, Malone

Scorers: Hamill (35), Murray (58), Love (77)

Sent Off: Murray (69)

Attendance: A headcount would suggest around about 70.