FC Kilmarnock 5 - 0 Hamilton LFC
(SWPL Match No.4 - 15th September 2002, 2.00pm Kick Off)

FC Kilmarnock played their first home match of the season at Hurlford Junior's Blair Park on Sunday afternoon and true to form they rattled five past a pretty reasonable looking Hamilton side and took all three points again.

The first attack came only five minutes in as Killie settled quickly and broke down the left hand side only to see a good cross put out for a corner by the Hamilton goalie, but nothing transpired from the resultant set piece. Two minutes later the threat came down the opposite flank but Donna Cheyne's shot crashed into the the side netting.

Killie kept the ball well but never troubled the keeper again until the 25th minute. Again the ball came across from the left to the feet of Cheyne who controlled well and laid it off the Bev McLaughlin who tried to lob the advancing keeper, but her shot unfortunately went over the bar.

FC Killie were getting most joy down the wings, despite the man marking ploys of Hamilton. We were starting to think that DC had a Siamese twin, their No.11 never kicked the ball for almost an hour, just followed DC around like a lost puppy! Despite this close attention, it was Cheyne again who created the next chance in the 33rd minute when she rounded her marker and got a cross in. The cross never quite made it past the first defender but Linda Brown latched onto the headed clearance and only just squeezed her shot inches past the post.

It was Brown who had the next chance as well as Killie piled on the pressure. She took possession on the edge of the area and took a shot on the run. The keeper did well to parry the shot with a diving save down to her left hand post and Pauline Hammill was unlucky not to score with the rebound. 

It was only a matter of time before FC Killie got the first goal and it came in the end courtesy of striker Brown. Five minutes before the interval Joanne Love rolled the ball out to DC on the right who hooked the ball straight to Brown who had just arrived in the centre of the box. Brown headed the ball straight at the keeper who was taken a bit by surprise and fumbled the ball into the net.

1-0 to FC Killie, and not before time, Hamilton had still to get a shot at goal never mind on target, but a lot of this was down to a well organised defence with Meggan Sneddon in particular looking very comfortable on the ball. Midfielder Angela Hind had the next pop at goal with a cracking header just before the ref blew for half time, but it went just wide of the post.

While the first half had been dominated by the home side there hadn't been all that many scoring chances,  but the second half was to see normal service resumed. Five minutes after the restart Pauline Hammill connected with a good ball in from the left and slotted the ball into the net to double the Killie ladies advantage.

In the 55th minute Killie made a change and brought on young Sarah Hough, who has scored five already this season, for Bev McLaughlin in what seemed to be a straight swap (Please remember I'm not familiar with the girls normal roles within the team yet). Ten minutes later defender Tracy Burns scored the goal of the match.

She picked up the ball on the half way line, played a 1-2 with Joanne Love and made for the right corner flag with the ball. The left back put in a hefty challenge but the ball broke for Tracy who headed it into the box, chased it in herself and crashed it into the roof of the net at the goalie's near side post, almost taking the net with it. This was no Sunday afternoon kick about, this was serious stuff and you could see that in the faces of the jubilant Killie team and their forlorn opposite numbers.

Hamilton did show they could play a bit and it was pretty much end to end stuff for the rest of the game, but they never seriously troubled Claire Johnston in the Killie nets. The same was not the case however when the bal was at the other end of the park and Killie added to their tally when a tremendous 30 yard effort from Shelly Kerr flew in past the stranded keeper.

A double substitution saw Donna Cheyne and Pauline Hammill make way for Nicola Black and Marina MacDonald with quarter of an hour to go, a tactic employed simply to give the subs a run out I assume as the result was by then in no doubt. Just to round things off and complete the sequence of 10-0, 5-0, 10-0, 5-0, Joanne Love, who looked dangerous throughout, netted the fifth and final goal of the game five minutes from the end.

It was an enjoyable spectacle with some nice football played as well, it's just a shame that the kick offs clash with the live BBC games now or I'm sure there would have been more than the 78 who did make it along - especially as it's free as well. I'm sincerely looking forward to next Sunday's home match against the Yahoos. Donna assures me that there is just as much niggle between the two teams as there is in any Ayrshire derby. I hope to see a few more of you there...or would you rather watch the shell suited Mexicans on TV?

FC Kilmarnock: Johnson, Burns, Kerr, Sneddon, Smith, Cheyne (Black 75), Love, Hind, Hammill (MacDonald 75), McLaughlin (Hough 55), Brown.

Referee: Ross McCluskey