Queen’s Park Ladies v Forfar - SWPL 14th. October 2007

Queens Park Ladies 0   ---  Forfar Farmington Ladies 1

Forfar took a much-needed three points on Sunday against Queens Park on a less than ideal pitch in Glasgow. The visitors were short of a few players but Claire Garrett, Avril Gourlay and Alana Bruce stepped into the back four alongside Gemma Collier and they succeeded in helping keeper Fiona McNicoll produce Forfar’s first clean sheet of the season. Away wins have been at a premium in the two and a half years Farmington have been in the women’s top flight, indeed you can count them on the fingers of one hand, which made this victory on the road all the sweeter and the journey back up the A9 a very pleasant one for a change.  A debut start for Forfar’s Polish Internationalist Marta Stachowska saw her slot home her first goal for the club. An excellent through ball from Emily Philips released Jane McFarlane on the right hand side and she played the ball across the face of the goal into Stachowska’s stride for her to pass it into the net past the stranded keeper. The good play continued as Phillips and Joanne Collier controlled the midfield which agitated the opposition enough to see them resort to some rather over-zealous tackling. Queens Park came close to scoring from a free kick on the edge of the box but Fiona McNicoll pulled off another of her trademark saves for the cameras! McNicoll was rarely tested through out the rest of the game.  Rhona Gordon and Lynn Duncan linked well on the wings and some magic footwork almost produced a goal for Duncan, who came close to scoring on a number of occasions. The second half was controlled well by the Forfar girls, who never allowed the home side an opportunity to get back into the game. A second goal would have made life a little more comfortable, but despite several good efforts, it never came. After a well-worked free kick J Collier had a great effort from inside the box turned round the post. Stachowska came close to scoring a spectacular second goal when she curled a free kick with her left foot only to see it strike the top of the goal stanchion. Duncan and McFarlane were both unlucky not to score when they were unable to steer the ball into the goal when excellent crosses were delivered into the box. Substitutes Kim Thompson, Kelly Menzies and Katrina Pert allowed Forfar to put on some much needed fresh legs to continually stretch the Queens defence and keep the one goal lead intact by defending from the front, always harassing the home side and never allowing them any time on the ball. It was a tremendous effort from all the ladies and after a hard fought game, Forfar were the worthy victors on the day.