MUSSELBURGH WINDSOR cruised to a 6-0 win against Boroughmuir in a Scottish Women's fixture at a windswept and rainy Pinkie Sports Field in East Lothian.
These two women's teams are part of the biggest area of growth in the game in Scotland.
Windsor used every area of the big pitch with impressive, quick passing moves that had Boroughmuir on the defensive, despite having the advantage of having the
strong wind in their favour.
Megan Paterson was prominent in right midfield for the home side and she caused problems for the visitors with her accurate, smooth passing of the ball up the right wing.
Boroughmuir had the chance to set up the opening goal from a free-kick on the right, but Kate Fryer's kick went straight into the arms of Windsor keeper, Amanda Porteous. Karen Wilkins was another player in the home ranks to upset the Boroughmuir defenders with her aggressive running and shooting.
With Kim Borthwick and Paterson forcing the play from midfield, Windsor eased in front with Shona McGovern finishing off brilliantly after another inspired pass around the back of the Boroughmuir defence by Paterson.
Shots from Boroughmuir at the other end were wild and off target. Paterson set up Wilkins to send a great shot hurtling towards the visiting goal, but it went wide.
In the 31st minute, Musselburgh went 2-0 ahead when Paterson collected a wonderful pass from the left to smash the ball past Stephaney Ireland.
While Danijela Rae went close for Windsor at one end, McRitchie had a good chance to reduce the deficit when the ball ran loose in the home goalmouth but three Windsor defenders closed the Boroughmuir No.7 down before she could put the ball in the net.
Just before the half-time break, Kelsey Campbell ran at the Boroughmuir defence from the half-way line but her shot lacked the power to beat Ireland and it was still 2-0 at the break.
The visitors had a tough task ahead of them in the second half, as the wind freshened and the rain poured down. Musselburgh laid siege to the Boro goal after the restart and the shots rained in on the over-worked Ireland.
After dealing with efforts from both Paterson and McGovern, the Boroughmuir keeper was beaten again with Wilkins running on to a great pass from Borthwick to score a third goal for Windsor.
The Boroughmuir defence was all over the place again when Borthwick made it 4-0 from a brilliant corner on the right sent over by Rae. Musselburgh were in total control of the game and McLean scored the best goal of the day with a thunderbolt of a shot from 22 yards out into the roof of the net to put her side 5-0 ahead.
Then Campbell was on hand to score Windsor's sixth goal following another excellent corner from Rae, and Boroughmuir were in danger of being overwhelmed.
But the visitors showed remarkable determination to lift themselves and compete for every ball. Fryer wasted another free-kick for Boroughmuir and the play switched back towards the visiting end again, with Campbell and McLean going close to adding to the home side's total. The home coaches, while delighted with their side's display, praised the attitude and sportsmanship of the Boroughmuir players and coaches.
A spokesperson for the home side said: "The Boroughmuir people praised Musselburgh Windsor for their great display and I also said how well they played and remarked on how the Boroughmuir players never gave up. We were full of praise for each team and, surely, that is what the game is all about – encouraging each other."
It is really good to see how women's football continues to make progress. While Windsor were better organised, fitter and more skilful there is no doubt that Boroughmuir will make progress.
All the players in the women's game appear to want to learn and improve and they are willing to put in the effort to do so. Certainly, they do not appear to have the same poor attitude problem that is sometimes prevalent among their male counterparts.
Musselburgh Windsor: Amanda Porteous, Katie McKinnon, Shona McGovern, Stacey McLean, Gemma Piaskowski, Megan Paterson, Danijela Rae, Shereen Kirkpatrick, Kiyomi Honjigawa; Karen Wilkins, Jenny Rogers, Kim Borthwick, Amy Blair, Kelsey Campbell, Fay Logan.
Boroughmuir: Stephaney Ireland, Heather Laing, Marie Anne Baillie, Wendy Georgeson, Michele Scobie, Anna Frances, Laura McRitchie, Beth Smith, Lisa Meiklejohn, Lissa McIntyre, Katriona Fryer, Hilary O'Connor, Laura Thomson.
Referee: Vigentini Lorennzo.
