Farmington made the long haul north last Sunday to visit SWPL newcomers Inverness. Inverness succeeded in giving current Champions Glasgow City a fright early in their last league fixture, and it was no surprise to see Sandy Corcoran’s side set a high tempo from the off.

Both Fiona McNicoll and Kim Jappy were called into making smart saves early on, before Calder nodded over following some good work from Finella Annand. Farmington successfully took the lead however in the 12th minute, and it was little surprise to see Caroline Heron find the net again. Kim Thomson fed Bobbie Beveridge into the right flank where the Farmington number six did extremely well to cut the ball back into the box under pressure from the home full back. On receiving the ball Heron steadied herself before firing the ball past Jappy.

Heron would come close again the 22nd minute, her shot on this occasion being pulled wide of Jappy’s far post. Natalie Bodiam brought the very best out of Fiona McNicoll on the half hour mark, the Farmington custodian pulling off a superlative save to keep the increasingly effective Inverness attack at bay. Bodiam linked well with Calder in the 38th minute, however the latter’s eventual shot lacked the necessary power to trouble McNicoll.

Brown came agonisingly close to Heron cut back in the 40th minute, however further frustration would come to brown on the stroke of half time as she nodded a Heron cross off the Inverness crossbar. 

Straight from the 2nd half kickoff Farmington went on the attack through Alana Bruce whose cross was forced goalwards by Heron and in turn well dealt with by Jappy. Inverness would respond quickly however with Laura McLeod brining another good save out of McNicoll. The homeside saw an effort trundle just past the post before Bruce saw her wind assisted cross suffer the same fate as Brown’s first half header – the woodwork proving it’s allegiances were firmly with the home side.

In the 63rd minute Bodiam capitalised on a poor headed clearance from the visitors, but again her eventual shot failed to test McNicoll. Two minutes later Heron fired wide from a Bruce free kick, as the home side started to look to increase the pressure once again. In response Angela Waite replaced Jane Brown in the Farmington attack – a move that would ultimately pay dividends before the day was out.

Sarah Main was having an excellent game for the home side, but in 73rd minute she was disposed by the ever hard working Beveridge whose cut back saw Kim Thomson produce a shot that sailed just wide of the home goal. By this point Inverness were laying siege to the Forfar goal with the impressive Annand proving to be a controlling influence for the hosts. However the efforts in particular of the visiting midfield pairing of Nicola Davidson and Joanna Collier – ably backed up by an outstanding Clare Garrett, did their utmost to maintain the Farmington lead.

Ultimately, Inverness drew level when in the 82nd minute they sliced open the Forfar defence to allow McLeod to place the ball past McNicoll. Inverness could sense their chance for 3 points, and almost collected them in the 40th minute when Lorraine Cadden found space in the box, but fired her effort over the bar.

Substitute Angela Waite had tested the speed of the Inverness backline on a few occasions by this point, and with two minutes left of regulation time , she successfully gained possession deep in the Inverness half, holding the ball up long enough to tee up skipper Nicola Davidson who produced a first class finish to put Forfar back ahead. Right on the death Waite nearly earned herself a goal, however the crossbar would yet again have other ideas.

Come full-time it was a feeling of relief amongst the visitors, as the hosts had certainly done more than enough to earn a split of the points. However the ability to grind out a result when required was not a strength for Farmington last season, and as such, on this occasion they were able to walk away with a number of positives, and their first SWPL points of the season.