FC Kilmarnock 5 - 0 Yahoo Bassas
(SWPL Match No.4 - 22nd September 2002, Blair Park, 2.00pm Kick Off)

FC Kilmarnock played their second home match of the season today against their county rivals A*r. The two Ayrshire teams have often been call the Rangers and Celtic of the SWPL but I like to think of them more as the Killie and A*r i.e. one team playing top notch football week in week out and going into Europe and the other an insignificant entity that was once a thorn in our side...and so it proved to be.....

This weeks match started much the same as last week's, pretty tight, but Killie dominated the play sufficiently enough that the yahoos never made it within 20 yards of Claire Johnston in the Killie goal. Despite their superiority, fifteen minutes passed before Killie had an attempt on target. Michelle Kerr picked Pauline Hamill out with a 30 yard pass which she struck on the volley, the keeper was alert to it but fumbled and was saved by a defender who managed to clear.

With twenty minutes on the clock, A*r got their first shot on goal but it was straight into the hands of Killie keeper Johnstone who has not conceded a go so far this season. This only served to stir FC Killie into action. Linda Brown got the ball wide right and managed to turn the defender and get a good cross in. The ball was knocked back out to Joanne Love, but she failed to make the most of it.

Killie were in the ascendancy and their pressure finally paid off in the 21st minute. Hammill picked the ball up on the wing and launched it over to the far post where Brown was waiting and she rose above her marker to head the home team into a 1-0 lead, spookily similar to last week! Killie never relented and have several more shots on target within the next few minutes including an attempted overhead kick from Bev McLaughlin and another good chance for strike sensation Brown who just failed to beat the onrushing keeper.

It was all Killie at this point and they were unlucky not to go further ahead when a Sarah 'Scoosh' Hough cross was sclaffed past the post by McLaughlin. Claire Johnston (in goal) got her second touch of the ball in the 40th minute and conceded a corner in the process, but as expected that came to nothing and the remainder of the half was played out in A*r territory. The 1-0 score line at half time did not reflect the home teams dominance but it has to be said that the lack of goals was in part down to some astute defending by the yahoos number five. Wonder is she wants to play for a good team?

The second half saw FC Killie start off in much the same fashion as they had left off the first. Within five minutes of the re-start, Tracy Burns found Angie Hind in the box but her shot was deflected wide for a corner. Linda Brown swung in the resultant set piece and a scramble in the box saw the ball break to Hamill 12 yards out who coolly chipped the ball over the crowded penalty area and watched it loop into goalies top right hand corner. 2-0 to the Killie girls and weren't they loving it!

Only two minutes were to pass before Killie made it three nil. East Ayrshire joinery shop's finest, Tracey Burns, whacked a free kick down the right wing to 'Scoosh' Hough. She went around a defender and ran for the bye- line, leaving the yahoo in her wake. Looking up she saw McLaughlin in space in the box so she cut the ball back to her team mate who obliged by slotting it past the helpless keeper in the A*r goal. It was looking grim for the opposition.

Killie killed the game stone dead fifteen minutes into the second half.  Julie Smith collected a loose ball on the left side of midfield and slipped the ball through to an advancing Joanne Love. One glance was enough for her to see the keeper badly positioned and she struck a sweet right foot shot from all of 22 yards that sailed into the roof of the net. A strike worthy of winning any game.

With the game wrapped up, Killie started to bring on their substitutes to freshen things up. Sarah Hough, who had been occupying the right wing berth vacated by Donna Cheyne from the previous week (who was now at left back, now that's versatile...any relation to Canero DC?) was replaced by Nicola Black who immediately went wide left with Joanne Love covering the right.

The 75th minute also saw the last of Julie Smith and Pauline Hammill who made way for Lesley Fowler and Marina 'Maz' McDonald. No sign of wee Meggan Sneddon this week, I can only assume that she is out injured. Speaking of which, a particularly nasty challenge on McLaughlin almost saw Killie reduced to 10 players (having committed all three subs already) when a yahoo took her out in front of the opposition dugout, but credit to Bev, she got up and got on with it.

A*r did have one decent chance a few minutes from the end when their best player, Stacey something or other (see photo below), found herself alone out on the right wing and had a good crack at it, but the attempt was well saved by Johnstone who surprisingly was not asleep yet. The ensuing corner escaped the Killie keeper but was cleared off the line by an alert Nicola Black.

As expected, FC Killie were to have the last say. Angie Hind's surging run into the A*r penalty area was halted illegally by that No.5 again and Linda Brown easily netted the spot kick, which was her second of the afternoon and Killie's fifth, to keep the teams goal per game ration above the five mark. It's going to take an exceptional team to give our girls a real test but meanwhile the FC Kilmarnock bandwagon just rolls on and on....

FC Kilmarnock: Johnston, Cheyne, Smith (Fowler 75), Kerr, Burns, Hough (Black 65), Hind, Love, McLaughlin, Hamill (McDonald 75), Brown.

Attendance: 86 (and a dug)

Here's a run down on the other scores -