Saturday 3rd May

U15's 8 - 3 Newburgh

Newburgh were the visitors to Paisley this week and although they languish at the bottom of the table they didn’t make it easy for Paisley. The game kicked off at a good pace and it wasn’t long before the home side took the lead. After only 2 minutes a corner kick from Nicole Howie saw Stephanie Knox convert low into the corner.

The Saints got an early lift from this and doubled their lead in the 4th minute when good wing play from Stephanie Brown to Aileen Magee who then put through Hannah Gilchrist to score. Saints didn’t let up and continued to pressurise the Newburgh defence and were rewarded with a third goal on the 6th minute when Nicole Howie’s delightful cross outwitted the keeper who let the ball slip through her hands.

Paisley then slackened off for a period of 10 minutes and although they played some delightful football, only a few chances existed. This was evident in the 16th minute when Newburgh were awarded a free kick. The ball was played over the top with the Saints defence pushing out, but the Newburgh striker beat the offside trap and ran through to score. The saints didn’t learn from the first goal and duplicated the same error on the 17th minute when again the same striker sprung the offside trap and ran through for Newburgh’s second.

Newburgh took a lift from that second goal and what was a comfortable 3 goal lead for the Saints then saw the deficit reduce to one and a game was on. The Saints responded to this in a positive manner and on the 18th minute a short corner kick was taken by Gilchrist to Howie. Howie then drove the ball low and hard into the net.

Newburgh tried to lift their game after this but were kept quiet with strong defensive qualities from Debbie & Aileen Magee, Angela McPhee and Stephanie Snowdon.

The midfield of Gilchrist, Palmer, Brown, Fagan and Lindsay kept the two strikers supplied with chance after chance and Stephanie Knox could have added to her tally but some good saves from the Newburgh keeper kept the saints two goal lead only until the 27th minute when the Saints were awarded yet another corner kick. From this, Howie supplied Amy Lindsay who coolly slotted the ball by the Newburgh to restore the Saints 3 goal lead. Gilchrist was then taken off with a knee injury and replaced with Amy Easdon.

Half time 5 - 2

After a good team talk Paisley started the second half as they did the first and after 2 minutes a shot from Easdon saw the ball deflected off Knox and into the path of Brown who drilled the ball low and hard into the back of the net. A somewhat fortuitous goal but never the less deserved by the home team to give them their 6th goal.

Paisley’s 8th goal came from the left hand wing when some terrific football saw Brown pass to Aileen Magee, she in turn put through Lindsay to give her a second goal.

The Paisley coaches then rested Fagan and Lindsay and put on Eilidh Graeme and Lauren O’Donnel who gave a good performance for the remainder of the match. Although Paisley had secured another vital 3 points, Newburgh were not finished and had the final say when on the 27th minute their striker, who had a great game, got her hat trick.

Overall, the Paisley coaches were pleased with the result and the performance. Although Paisley might not be in the running for the league title this season, they have a part to play in who could win it.

Team: Caitlin McDonald, Debbie Magee, Angela McPhee, Stephanie Snowdon, Aileen Magee, Karla Palmer, Louise Fagan, Nicole Howie, Stephanie Brown, Stephanie Knox, Amy Lindsay, Amy Easdon, Hannah Gilchrist, Eilidh Graeme and Lauren O’Donnel.