Boroughmuir Thistle returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon, defeating Rossvale for the fifth time this season at a sun-soaked Meadowbank Stadium.
Louise Mason opened the scoring on 22 minutes before Caitlin Lynch doubled Thistle’s lead 20 minutes later.
The Thistle backline was seldom troubled by a struggling Rossvale team, and the home side can probably be disappointed not to have added more goals in the second half.
It was, however, a solid victory and another three points for third-placed Boroughmuir as we enter the closing stages of the SWPL 2 season.
A lovely Spring afternoon would’ve provided the perfect conditions for football but for the accompanying strong wind which came to play a part in proceedings.
Thistle - with the wind behind them in the first half - had pretty much all of the goalscoring opportunities in the opening exchanges. Becky Galbraith came close from a corner before Cara Borthwick shot wide and Ria McCafferty rattled the crossbar from an in-direct free kick inside the box.
It didn’t, then, take long for Boroughmuir to open the scoring, with Mason pouncing on a poor kick out from the Rossvale goalkeeper to calmly dink the ball into the back of the net from around 20 yards.
A nicely worked move involving Dion Young, Erin Sheehan, and Galbraith almost came off, but Young’s cross couldn’t quite reach Thistle’s number 18 after Sheehan’s dummy.
Then, three minutes before half time, Boroughmuir had their second courtesy of Lynch’s first goal of the season. Holly Aitchison picked up the ball in midfield, drove into the box, and picked out Galbraith with a low cross. The forward couldn’t quite set herself for a shot but laid the ball into the path of the onrushing Lynch to smash home from 12 yards.
Andy Enwood described the performance post-match as “flat” - a fair assessment particularly in the second period.
With a two-goal cushion and Rossvale offering little threat up top, Boroughmuir perhaps took their foot of the gas slightly but still created some decent chances.
Mason saw her shot caught comfortably by the Rossvale goalkeeper before she turned provider for Galbraith who shot wide on the turn.
Galbraith then threw herself at Sheehan’s shot which was going just wide, but couldn’t get the crucial touch to turn the ball into the back of the net.
Only once did Rossvale look close to finding a consolation goal - Natalie Angelini slightly misjudged a goal kick which left her scrambling but the ball bounced wide in any case.
Sheehan saw her shot saved comfortably shortly before the final whistle, meaning Thistle had to ‘settle’ for a solid 2-0 victory.
The result leaves Boroughmuir in third place on 45 points - three points behind Kilmarnock and 11 adrift of league leaders Hamilton.
Up next is a trip to face Hamilton at New Douglas Park following next weekend’s international break. Kick off on Sunday 13th April is at 4pm, with further details and ticket information announced in due course.
Boroughmuir Thistle: Angelini, Young (Simmons 69’), Lynch (Brady 69’), Sheehan, Mason (C) (Gibson 69’), Macleod (Hall 60’), Forbes, Galbraith, McCafferty, Borthwick, Aitchison
Subs: Harkness, Arthur, Simmons, Gibson, Brady, Hall
Rossvale: Paton, McGarvey, Whiteford (C), Fargie, Shanks (MacKay 69’), Newman, Cullie (Murray 85’), Robertson, Crooks, Sallis, McGurk
Subs: Gibney, Murray, Martin, MacKay
Referee: David Gallagher
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