Spartans Ladies Crush Killie

By IAN MACKAY

SPARTANS women's team are a class act both on and off the field when they play at the Academy in Ainslie Park.

In their latest impressive display, theycomprehensively beat Kilmarnock 4-1.

Kilmarnock put up a dogged defensive display and did extremely well to keep the score down.

Former St Augustine's High School shooting star Diana Barry took her total of goals scored this season to 20, with two more against Kilmarnock.

Barry's first goal came in the 21st minute and it was a beautiful finish to a move that started with a throw-in on the left from Siobhan Rooney.

The Spartans No.3 picked up the move again from a Debbie McWhinnie pass before delivering a perfect ball in from the left to Barry, who controlled the ball well before whipping a wonderful curling shot beyond Kilmarnock keeper Khym Ramsey and inside the right-hand post.

After making the initial breakthrough, Spartans went on to score a second goal and it was another great example of high-class finishing, this time from the sparkling McWhinnie.

Hayley Lauder – one of the young international players in the Spartans squad – created the goal with a superb cross for her team-mate who sent a terrific header towards goal.

McWhinnie's first effort was blocked, but the Spartans No.11 netted from the rebound to give Spartans a two-goal lead which they richly deserved for their attacking style of football.

The visitors refused to lie down, however, and took the game to the other end of the field, forcing goalkeeper Jo Hutcheson into action to deal with a corner from the left.

In the Spartans midfield, they had another tremendously impressive player in former Craigmount High School pupil Claire Crosbie. She has added football to her CV to go along with her prowess as a top-flight badminton player, something that was realised when she was a pupil at Drum Brae Primary.

Kilmarnock were lucky not to lose another goal when Crosbie joined in the Spartans attack but, despite shambolic defending by the visitors, the home side failed to force the ball into the net.

In another Spartans raid, Crosbie did not get enough on a cross from Lauder and the ball went well wide of the target.

In a good run at the Kilmarnock goal, McWhinnie was pulled down and Spartans had a great chance to add to their tally from a free-kick about 25 yards out.

Danni Pagliarulo touched the free-kick to skipper Michelle Faughnan, but her fine strike at goal went just wide of a post and it was still 2-0 at the half-way stage of a very entertaining and game full of classy football.

The home side picked up the pace of the game on the restart but they suffered a shock setback when the visitors pulled one back. Faughnan whipped the legs from a Kilmarnock player in the box and visiting midfielder Kirsty McLaughlin stepped up to give Hutcheson no chance from the spot-kick.

The home side's reply was extremely positive.

Barry set up McWhinnie to fire a shot at the Kilmarnock post and the ball rebounded back into play off an upright before being cleared.

The Kilmarnock defence struggled to keep the eager home attackers at bay and Barry ran on to a superb pass to the left of the visiting goal, but her shot this time was well held by Ramsey.

In the 70th minute, Spartans went 3-1 ahead from a McWhinnie header following another great cross from Rooney.

The pressure on the Kilmarnock goal continued with McWhinnie delivering the cross for Lauder to send a great header crashing towards the visitors' net, but the Kilmarnock defence managed to block the effort.

That was followed by a lovely run from Kate MacGillivray that took her to the bye-line on the right of the visiting goal, followed by a quite perfect cut-back to Barry, who spoiled the move by blasting the ball over the bar this time. In another Spartans raid on the visiting goal, Barry was felled in the box, but the referee, who was right up with play, did not see anything wrong in the tackle.

In a great finish to this enjoyable game, Barry scored another great goal to make it 4-1.

The three points from this game takes Spartans total to 29, three behind league leaders Celtic, while they are also still involved in the Scottish Cup.

Spokesman Carson Ralton said: "The pitch was magnificent and it gave both teams the chance to play good, passing football.

"It was the same for both teams, but Spartans are exceptional at playing this type of football and we demonstrated that again. It was another very good win for our team."

Spartans: Jo Hucheson, Michelle Faughnan, Siobhan Rooney, Claire Crosbie, Michelle Kerr, Danielle Pagliarulo, Hayley Lauder, Diana Barry, Molly McKean, Debbie McWhinnie, Sarah Archibald, Patricia McLaughin, Julie Melrose, Kate MacGillivray, Louise Young, Camilla Neumann Holst.

Kilmarnock: Khym Ramsey, Ami McDonald, Julie Smith, Laura Ferguson, Tracy Burns, Kirsty McLaughlin, Toni Mason, Laura Cooper, Joanne Cooper, Amanda Craig, Rachael Dorrens, Chloe Quinn, Caryn Ferguson, Jill Forsyth, Nicole Murray.

Referee: Lorraine Clarke. Assistants: Michael Addy, Gerard Foguet.

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