Boroughmuir Thistle returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon with a comfortable victory over St Johnstone at Meadowbank Stadium!
The deadlock was broken when St Johnstone’s Rebecca Robertson turned the ball into her own net minutes before Leni Parrish made it two on the stroke of half time.
Two quickfire goals from Cara Borthwick and Cailin Michie made it 4-0 shortly before the away side pulled one back via Jodie Malcolm.
However, Robin Gallagher capped off the scoring when she struck with seven minutes remaining to ensure Thistle moved up to third place in SWPL 2 after their third league win.
Molly Orr-Love was at the heart of the early attacking action as she tested the Saints goalkeeper on a couple of occasions and clipped the far post with an effort from a tight angle.
Michie then rattled the crossbar on 34 minutes as Thistle continued to dominate possession and didn’t give the visitors a sniff at goal.
The opener came three minutes later when Borthwick latched onto Louise Mason’s through ball, ran at the Saints defence, and watched as her low cross was turned home by Robertson into her own net.
Orr-Love then had a pop once again but watched as Roberta-Leigh Cochran saved her low, powerful strike.
In first half added time, Parrish bagged her second goal of the season when she picked up Michie’s long ball, settled herself, and placed her composed effort into the bottom left corner from around 18-yards out.
Thistle continued to dominate the second half in terms of possession and chances, as Mason clipped the left post with a long-range effort on 58 minutes.
Three minutes later, Borthwick was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a loose ball inside the box and finish beyond Cochran to put Thistle three goals to the good.
Merely 50 seconds later, it was four. Substitute Caitlin Armstrong’s long ball wasn’t dealt with by the St Johnstone defence which allowed Michie to burst through and slot a cool finish into the far bottom corner before peeling away to celebrate with a ball girl from Boroughmuir’s Under-10 Purple squad.
A rare foray forward by the visitors two minutes later yielded a consolation goal as Malcolm pounced on a slack passback by Scarlett Brady to fire beyond the onrushing Toni Harkness from around 20-yards out.
However, despite a flurry of changes - including the introduction of Ava Chalmers for her senior debut after making the step up from the Under-17s - Thistle remained in complete control and capped off their goalscoring exploits with seven minutes to go.
Some great work by Jayden Simmons down the right-hand-side saw her beat two Saints defenders and cross the ball to Gallagher who finished with an outside-of-the-boot strike high into the net at the second time of asking.
The victory sees Thistle move up to third place in SWPL 2 with 10 points from their opening six matches, though currently six points behind leaders Hamilton.
Up next is the second round of the Sky Sports Cup, with Livingston the visitors to Meadowbank Stadium next Sunday afternoon. Kick-off in that one is at midday.
Boroughmuir Thistle: Harkness, Sheehan (Chalmers 77’), Mason (C), Michie, Gibson, McCafferty, Brady, Orr-Love (Arthur 59’), Borthwick (Gallagher 77’), Aitchison (Armstrong 46’), Parrish (Simmons 71’)
Subs: Angelini, Gallagher, Armstrong, Chalmers, Arthur, Macleod, Simmons, Forbes, Hinchcliffe
St Johnstone: Cochran, Gibson, Cruickshank, Simson, Hurrell, Irvine (C), Malcolm, West, Jones, McCafferty, Robertson
Subs: Baker, Telford, McLean, Shepherd, Smith, Haston
Referee: David Gallagher
Share this post