Killie Go Down 1-0 At Home.

FC Kilmarnock Ladies hosted Forfar Farmington Ladies this afternoon at Blair Park, Hurlford looking to take last weeks performance into this weeks game.

The match started with both teams struggling to come to terms with the pitch as it was difficult to play passing football on with the pitch hard and bumpy. Kilmarnock did start the brighter, but could not find or get the balls into the danger areas quick enough with players dwelling on the ball.

Killie did have a lot of corners first half, but Forfar stood firm and cleared their lines well. Forfar almost capitalised on a mistake in the Killie defence when they burst in behind only to be denied by Killie’s outstanding young goalkeeper Khym Ramsay. The match was crying out for a goal to ignite it, with Joanne Cooper, Laura Cooper and Toni Mason making good runs mainly down the right hand side, but on each occasion no one was there to pull the trigger. Laura Cooper almost scored, when she hit one in a packed area only to be denied by the keeper.

The first half fizzled out with both sides going in at half time level.

Half Time: FC Kilmarnock Ladies 0, Forfar Farmington Ladies 0.

The second half surprising saw Killie drop down another couple of gears, when in fact they should have been going up a couple of gears. Forfar were by now starting to be sharper, winning more 1st and 2nd balls, with Killie very slow to react to things.

Captain Tracy Burns tried in vain to get everyone going, but one person talking for an entire team at times is obviously a problem. Killie were quiet, were not using the channels, moving the ball quick enough or taking players on which was a massive disappointment when they managed to do all of these things so well the week before.

Claire McCombe battled away in midfield trying to get things going and Lindzi Bayne worked hard out wide, but was often not getting enough of the ball from her team mates. Killie did however have the ball in the back of the net when the ball broke of a Forfar defender straight to Laura Cooper who stuck the ball in the net, only to be wrongly flagged offside. The decision was an extremely poor one, and one which ultimately cost Killie.

Killie were made to later pay for their wasteful distribution second half when Jane McFarlane ran on to a through ball to hit Killie on the break to make it one nil.

Claire McCombe had a free kick saved late on by McNicoll, but the match ended with Killie suffering a home defeat that saw them drop to fifth in the SWPL.

Full Time: FC Kilmarnock Ladies 0, Forfar Farmington Ladies 1.

Killie Team: Ramsay, Smith, Burns ©, McCombe, Bayne, Mason, L. Cooper, J. Cooper, Quinn, Forsyth & McLaughlin.
Subs: L. Ferguson, Goudie, C. Ferguson & Munro.

Forfar Team: McNicoll, Sturrock, G. Collier, J. Collier, Thomson, Gourlay, McCaig, McFarlane, Duncan & Brogan.
Subs: Gordon, Garrett and Bruce.

Afterwards Killie Assistant Manager Gordon Cunningham said “No excuses today, we were poor and that’s the bottom line. Sure we have some players missing but Forfar had 3 big players missing for them today too in Galloway, Davidson and Bruce and it did not effect their style of play, so I will not accept that as an excuse. We lost this game because we were not quick enough with our feet or our heads today. Our decision making plus a lot of other things were not great at all today and those who saw last weeks game and this weeks will be scratching their heads wondering how we can go from one extreme to another in a week. The decision by the linesman today was unbelievable, flagging for offside when the ball was played off a defender for our striker to run onto and score only to be ruled offside, but one we have come to expect as the standard of officials in this league is poor, but in saying that the referee we had today is one of the best, if not the best we have had all season and has to go with her officials call, but her assistant let her down today. How the League improve the standards of officials is simple to me, come and watch them, as it does not happen and until they do assess them, every team and player in this league will just have to deal with decisions like this on a regular basis. But as I said we should have been able to perform better than we did today and the girls know that.”

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Kilmarnock 0 v Forfar Farmington 1

While this may not have been the most exciting display of flowing football Forfar have played this year the result away from home against dangerous opponents was very important.
A strong wind and uneven pitch meant both teams struggled to build up play, tending to rely on speculative long balls for the forwards to run on to which resulted in few clear cut chances but lots of corners and throw ins which both defences dealt with comfortably. Kilmarnock had more possession in the first half but were unable to convert this into anything meaningful and as the game wore on Forfar increasingly believed they could take at least a point from the match.
Despite seeing less of the ball in the first half the best chance fell to Forfar on the half hour mark, Caren Webster forcing Khym Ramsay to make a fine save.
HT0-0
Reaching half time goalless, having played against the wind and gradient, and with the defence denying Kilmarnock not even a single shot that was remotely on target, gave the entire team a great boost.
Forfar's Clare Sturrock in central defence had a fine match as did Kim Thomson playing her first game for Forfar in the right back position looking very assured.
Forfar winning the battle in midfield slowly took hold of the second half. Joanna Collier put in yet another fine shift and together with Avril Gourlay and Tracy Brogan were first to everything in midfield. The tireless running of Jane McFarlane in particular up front continually forced the Kilmarnock defence into hurry up mode and to play longer balls to alleviate the pressure.  Forfar finally broke the deadlock in the 67th minute when a finely laced pass from Joanne Collier gave Jane McFarlane the opportunity the race by the Kilmarnock defence and slot the ball home past the advancing Ramsay to send the away support into uproar.
0-1
McFarlane almost made it two a minute later but her shot was well saved. A late free kick awarded to Kilmarnock in injury time gave a late anxious moment but was comfortably held by McNicoll. Forfar with three regular influential starters missing from this fixture will take great heart from this great team effort and victory.