Stenhousemuir Women FC vs Rossvale

Match Report

After a dissapointing 3-1 loss to Westdyke last week, the Warriors look forward to some Cup action as they take on Rossvale in the SWF League One and Championship Cup. Rossvale currently play in the top half of the Championship and head into this game on the back of a 2-0 win away to Hutchison Vale.

Jack Cameron named a side with a couple of changes from last week as Erin Wilson and Shantel Paterson returned to the squad. Last week’s Trialist Helen Templeton put pen to paper this week and officially joined the squad in todays line up. A squad of Harkness in goals, Vickerman, Paterson, Jones, Sullivan and Connolly in defence, Maguire, Erin Wilson, Montgomery and Richard-Campbell made up the midfield with Templeton as the lone striker up front. Carolanne Phee, Chloe Pearson and Sarah Kelly start on the bench.

The Rossvale squad is made up of Rachel Docherty in goals and an outfield squad of Eilidh Milligan, Lynne Jackson, Natasha Donaghy, Aimee Henderson, Fiona Cullie, emma Rogers, Lauren McCulloch, Josslyn Fletcher, Morgan Anderson and Rachael Downs. On the bench; Megan Whiteford, Elise Wieringa Louise McJacobs, Rachel Ashe, Kirsten Treanor and Taylor Johnson.

The Warriors start well as the ball spends alot of time in the middle of the pitch. No team is initially able to create any chances for the first 20 minutes or so as both teams battle it out.

The first real chance of the game fell to Morgan Anderson for Rossvale as she managed to break through into a 1-on-1 with the keeper but Harkness does fantastic to make a massive save and kill the attack.

Anderson again finds a way through the Warriors defence after a quick couple of passes and she gets off a shot, but again Harkness has it covered as she dives down well to get it.

The first real chance for the Warriors falls to Templeton who picks up the ball from 30 yards out and turns, making a snap shot, but she doesn’t quite catch it right and drifts to the wrong side of the post.

A minute later Templeton repeats the feat by carrying out almost the exact same move, snapping a shot from 30 yeards out. This one dips though and is flying into the top left corner were it not for Rachel Docherty who does really well to get up to it.

Rossvale are awarded a freekick on the edge of the box after a slack tackle from Montgomery. Donaghy steps up to take it but she doesn’t get her shot right and slashes it wide.

The Warriors win a freekick around the halfway line after Templeton is pulled down. Vickerman takes it and floats it in beautifully over the top of the Rossvale defence finding the feet of Richard-Campbell who cant quite take it in her stride the Rossvale defence get back to shield the ball for the keeper to collect. And unfortunate touch.

HALF TIME: STENHOUSEMUIR 0-0 ROSSVALE

No changes for the Warriors at the break as Templeton gets the game back underway.

SUBSTITUTION: Rossvale make their first change of the day with a double substitution as Louise McJacobs and Rachel Ashe come on to replace Josslyn Fletcher and Rachael Downs.

Rossvale substitute McJacobs comes very close to opening the scoring after getting the break of the ball, not once but twice, and finding herself 1-on-1 with the keeper, but again Harkness does fantasic and pulls off a brilliant save!

Jude Connolly picks up the ball on the right wing and skips round a few Rossvale players before laying the ball in for Montgomery who races towards the keeper. 1-on-1 she takes her shot but cant keep it on target as it slides painfully past the post.

Rossvale win a corner from outside the box, close to the left hand corner flag. The ball is floated in and the Rossvale number 2, Jackson, gets a free header in the box but cant quite keep it down as it drifts over the bar.

GOAL ROSSVALE: Almost a minute later, another Rossvale freekick, this time from about the middle of the park, is floated in to the back post and again finds the head of Jackson who nods it into the net off the underside of the bar. Stenhousemuir 0-1 Rossvale [Jackson 71′]

SUBSTITUTION: Rossvale make another change as Elise Wieringa comes on to replace Morgan Anderson.

SUBSTITUTION: Jack’s reaction to the goal is to withdraw Montgomery, who is replaced by Sarah Kelly. This is followed a few minutes later by Richard-Campbell coming off to be replaced with Carolanne Phee.

SUBSTITUTION: Another double change for Rossvale as Amiee Henderson and Fiona Cullie come off and are replaced by Megan Whiteford and Taylor Johnson.

YELLOW CARD: Carolanne Phee is booked for a tackle after she brings down a Rossvale striker that got on her wrongside.

Lucy Sullivan breaks down the left hand side of the pitch and almost makes it to the box. She tries to cross it in or shoot with the outside of her foot but gets it all wrong and the ball goes out for a goal kick.

FULL TIME STENHOUSEMUIR 0-1 ROSSVALE

Rossvale progress to the next round of the cup after a single goal in the 71st minute is enough to seal the win. Good luck to Rossvale in the next round.

POST MATCH INTERVIEW

We caught up with Head Coach Jack Cameron after the match.

How are you feeling after that game? 

Probably as satisfied with a loss as you can be. Obviously you want to get through to the next round and ultimatley we’ve been put out of the cup, but against a top side from the top half of the league above, we’ve come and gave a good account of ourselves. Maybe if we had been a wee bit more clinical in the final third we could have stole something today but in general the players can be proud of that performance. It was a good shift.

A couple of big saves aswell from Harkness. How important was she today? 

I think that was Toni’s best game for us. She’s been brilliant. She came in to be a part of the coaching staff and has ended up having to fill in for a lot longer than we thought she was going to, but shes been a brilliant player and this was by far her best game. Big saves at big moments.

Helen Templeton making her debut as a non trialist today. How pleased are you to have her in the squad? 

I’m delighted. She is an experienced player and shes going to be good for the group. We’ve got a real young group here which is mostly under 21-22 so I think she will add alot to the team on the pitch aswell as off it and I think she has settled in well.

Is the squad here today closer to what you are expecting to have going forward now for the rest of the season?

We’ve still got 4 players out just now. Three we think might be back in the next few weeks and one real long term injury but we are getting there slowly. We knes it was going to be a bit of a big turn around, we knew we would probably take a bit of a hit in the short term in terms of growing the squad, but we are starting to get there now.

Looking ahead to next week, you’ve got the return leg away to Westdyke. Have you had a chance to think about that game? 

We try and only focus on one game at a time. We did just play them though and we we’re not delighted with our performance. We could have been better and we had a lot of players out injured in that game. Hopefully if we can keep the squad that was here today and avoid any further injuries, maybe get some of the others that are out back, and then try and head up to Aberdeen and try give a really good account of ourselves.