St Johnstone 2 Queen's Park 6 - match report
Queen’s Park followed up their 6-0 thrashing of Livingston, last weekend, with an impressive 6-2 score-line against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park astro on Sunday in matchday 3 of the SWPL2 season.
Head Coach, Iain Robinson, made just one change to the starting 11 who faced Livingston the previous week, with summer signing, Summer Thomson, replacing Dara Ositelu.
Queen’s got off to a fast start and came close to opening the scoring after just 6 minutes as Ellie Kane struck the post from the edge of the box.
Pressure told in the 20th minute as an Ellie MacDonald corner kick found Abby Callaghan who powerfully headed past the keeper to open the scoring for the visitors.
7 minutes later, The Spiders doubled their advantage. Sophie Rutherford made a storming run down the right wing before dinking the ball across the 5-yard area to Ellie Kane, who slotted the ball into the open goal.
In the 43rd minute, St Johnstone pulled a goal back. A mix-up at the back between Jasmine McPhee and Abbie Cusack saw the ball break to Rachel Howie, who backheeled the ball in from close range.
Just before half-time, Ellie Kane came close to restoring Queen’s 2 goal advantage. Summer Thomson made a great run down the wing before sending in a cross to Ellie Kane, who took a jumping strike at goal, but Roberta-Leigh Cochran positioned herself well between the sticks to make the save.
Half-time: St Johnstone 1 Queen’s Park 2
“Ask for the ball” was the instruction given to Sophie Rutherford at half-time, and that was exactly what she did. Less than 30 seconds into the second half, Morgan Hay played an excellent through ball to Rutherford, who found herself one-on-one with the keeper before lashing the ball into the back of the net.
Dara Ositelu and Jemma McQuillan came on in the 56th minute, and less than 10 minutes later, were already causing trouble for The Saints’ defence. A through ball from Ellie Kane found Dara on the right wing who sprinted away from her marker and created a two-on-one opportunity with Jemma McQuiilan, but Dara decided to go alone, rounded the keeper, and finished brilliantly from a tight angle.
In the 71st minute, St Johnstone reduced Queen’s lead. Saints Captain, Niamh Irvine, played a pass through for Steffi Simpson, who chipped the ball from just outside the box over the head of McPhee and into the goal.
With 8 minutes left of normal time, Jemma McQuillan got herself on the score sheet. Just as they did in the 56th minute, Jemma and Dara made darting runs down the wing, but this time Dara switched the ball across the box to McQuillan, who finished with her first touch.
3 minutes after scoring her first of the match, Jemma got her brace. A poor first touch by St Johnstone’s Ellie MacIver was capitalised on by McQuillan, who sprinted down the left wing before expertly finishing past the keeper to grab Queen’s 6th.
In the 86th minute, Ositelu came agonisingly close to scoring her second of the afternoon. Emma Craig passed the ball to Dara on the right side of the box, who let fly from a tight angle. Her strike beat the keeper but cannoned off the underside of the crossbar.
Full-time: St Johnstone 2 Queen’s Park 6
A second consecutive league victory sees Queen’s Park move up to 3rd in the SWPL2 table. Having scored 12 goals in their last 2 matches, Queen’s also have the best goal difference in the league after 3 games on +8.
Next up for The Spiders is a home tie against Gartcairn on Sunday, the 14th of September at Kirkintilloch CSC.
Queen’s Park: Jasmine McPhee, Morgan Hay, Rachael O’Neill (Ciara Bonner 42’), Ellie MacDonald (Darcy Molley 71’), Emma Craig, Sophie Rutherford (Dara Ositelu 56’), Abby Callaghan, Ellie Kane, Abbie Cusack, Summer Thomson (Jemma McQuillan 56’), Murron Cunningham (Summer Christie 71’)
Substitutes not used: Claire Adams, Rosie McQuillan, Rachel Wright, Natalie Angelini.
Starting Eleven
