Spartans vs. Hibernian Women

Scottish Women’s Premier League 1 The Official Matchday Programme

Sunday 4th of April 2021 Ainslie Park Stadium 2pm KO

Friends Legal are the main kit sponsor of Spartans Women FC, supplying all our kit requirements including our home strip and match day and training apparel. Friends legal are a specialist personal injury law practice. The team at Friends Legal try and make access to legal services as straightforward as possible by promoting a friendly approach.

Tony O’Malley, Managing Partner of Friends Legal, said: “At Friends Legal we strongly believe in the power of community to achieve great things so we are delighted to continue our partnership with Spartans Scottish Women’s Premier League team . It is also part of our philosophy to give something back. Spartans were able to demonstrate a clear vision for their club, along with clearly defined values that they wished to promote.”

We are extremely grateful for the continued support received from Friends Legal. For expert advice please call Friends Legal on 0141 442 0610 or visit www.friends-legal.co.uk

Home Ground

U19’s NPL Team Staff

Ainslie Park (Capacity 2,400 / 504 Seated) The Spartans Community Football Academy 94 Pilton Drive, Edinburgh EH5 2HF Tel: 0131-552-7854 E-mail: info@spartanscfa.com

Alfie Smith Head Coach Michael Cranston Assistant Head Coach Charlene Lessells GK Coach Orsi Jakri Sports Therapist Jason Cross Team Secretary

SWPL Team Staff

Girls Academy

Debbi McCulloch Manager Scott Noble Assistant Head Coach Katie Reilly Assistant Coach Colin Osbourne GK Coach Jude Watson Team Chaplain Mel Crolla Team Chaplain Liz McMahon Club Secretary John Douglas Club Photographer James Lambert Matchday Operations Adam Smith Matchday Videography

Medical Staff Marcin Szostak Club Physiotherapist Amy Young Matchday Physiotherapist Toni Fraser Sports Therapist

Lauren Rabbitte Girls Academy Development Manager Daniel Blyth U17’s Head Coach Aaron Hunter U15’s Head Coach

Girls & Women’s Executive Committee Anne McConaghy Chairperson Mark Brown Vice-Chairperson Debbi McCulloch General Manager Judith Shepherd G/W Development Officer Jason Cross Member Ronnie Hamilton Member

Club Information Website: www.spartansfcwomen.com Twitter: @spartansfcwomen Facebook: @spartansfcwomen Instagram: spartans_womens_fc

’ Today we welcome Dean and his players to Ainslie Park. Our derby games against Hibernian Women are always tough. We know we will face a well organised and physical football team this afternoon and will need to be at our very best to deserve a positive result. The battle for fourth place is undoubtedly going to be a close one with whoever wins today creating a three point gap.

Our last game feels like a distant memory but what a game it was. Hearts were extremely difficult to breakdown and had we taken our chances in the first half the game would have been a comfortable victory for us. However we don’t do things the easy way here at Spartans! I remember sitting in the stand with 60 seconds remaining and thinking this is going to be a sore one for our players. Then I see the goal open up and Alana in space. Alana has always had a fantastic left foot strike from distance, and after giving her a hard time at training about not putting enough power into her shots, boom she hits the back of the net with a fantastic strike to win us the game. Que the celebrations! Moments like that stay with you forever and just goes to show that no matter what the situation is, giving up is not an option for us.

Preparations have went well over the past four weeks with the squad performing well in a pre-season friendly against Hibs and several squad games. After lockdown one we worked hard on our defensive style of play and after a positive first seven games our goal difference clearly shows that the players understand the system well and have the ability to execute it. Post lockdown two (and hopefully the final lockdown for everyone!) we have focused on our attacking style of play and how we want to utilise our strengths to create and score more goals. We scored some well worked goals in the first seven games however the simple opportunities we struggled with which resulted in us narrowly losing a few games. The fine margins of SWPL 1 now mean that you have to take your chances!

On the player front, we have a fully fit squad to choose from today. A selection headache for the staff but one we very much welcome. We took the decision to promote three of our NPL U19’s players—Lily Graham, Zoe Murray and Amy Denholm. All three have impressed on and off the pitch and will have promising football journeys ahead of them. Elena Santo-Brown continues to make good progress from her ACL reconstruction with Christie Kerr also working hard to return after knee surgery.

Thank you for your continued support this afternoon, and even though you can’t be with us, we really do appreciate everyone being right behind us. Our thanks to Chris Pow for producing our live stream today. I’m sure it will be a great watch so please tune in.

We hope to welcome you back to Ainslie Park soon! #DBDF

Debbi McCulloch

The Forth Wedding Car Company

Thanks also to The Mawson Family, Brian McMonagle, Kirsty McLaughlin, Ashley Nicolson, Holly & Anna-Grace Gordon & Grant Cunningham.

Lowland League | Lowland League season comes to an end The decision has been taken to end the Scottish Lowland League season on a points per game basis after discussions between the Scottish FA, the Lowland League and our member clubs.

The Board considered responses provided by member clubs.

Nine clubs wrote to say they supported this recommendation. Three clubs expressed a preference for the season to be declared null and void. This constitutes a majority of clubs in favour of the recommendation. The Board has therefore agreed League positions for season 2020/21 will be decided based on average Points Per Game. The final League table is:

Discussions are ongoing with the Scottish FA, SPFL and SHFL about possible dates for the Pyramid Play-Off competition. All clubs competing in it will, under current Scottish Government requirements, be required to pay for PCR tests.

There are several factors before relegation can be confirmed which includes waiting until the conclusion of the Pyramid and Lower Pyramid Play-Off competitions.

The Lowland League Board has a start date of the weekend of Saturday 17 July 2021 for Season 2021 to begin.

Position

Team

Played

Won

Draw

Lose

GD

Points

1

Rangers Women F.C.

7

6

0

1

+21

18

2

Glasgow City F.C.

7

6

0

1

+15

18

3

Celtic F.C.

7

5

1

1

+19

16

4

Hibernian F.C.

7

3

0

4

+3

9

5

Spartans F.C.

7

3

0

4

-1

9

6

Forfar Farmington F.C.

7

2

1

4

-8

7

7

Motherwell F.C.

7

1

0

6

-24

3

8

Hearts Women F.C.

7

1

0

6

-25

3

Played

Won

Draw

Lose

GD

Points

Position

Team

1

Aberdeen F.C. Women

10

9

0

1

+33

27

2

Dundee United W.F.C.

10

6

2

2

+9

20

3

Hamilton Academical

10

6

1

3

+16

19

4

Partick Thistle

10

6

1

3

+11

19

5

St Johnstone W.F.C.

10

5

1

4

0

16

6

Glasgow Women F.C.

10

4

1

5

+1

13

7

Queens Park

10

4

1

5

-7

13

8

Boroughmuir Thistle

10

3

0

7

-16

9

9

Kilmarnock F.W.C

10

3

0

7

-18

9

10

Stirling University W.F.C.

10

0

1

9

-29

1

Photos courtesy of Craig Doyle Media

1. Alicia YATES (GK) 2. Louise MASON 3. Sarah CLELLAND 4. Simone MCMAHON 5. Dion MCMAHON 6. Bobbie BEVERIDGE 7. Michaela MCALONIE 8. Katie FREW 9. Ronaigh DOUGLAS 11. Alana MARSHALL © 12. Lilly GRAHAM 13. Rachel HARRISON (GK) 14. Tegan REYNOLDS 15. Caley Gibb 16. Robyn MCCAFFERTY 18. Rebecca GAILBRAITH 19. Elena SANTOYO-BROWN 21. Christie KERR 22. Amy DENHOLM 23. Zoe MURRAY 24. Katherine SMART

2. Shannon LEISHMAN 3. Amy MUIR 4. Siobhan HUNTER 6. Leah EDDIE 7. Carla BOYCE 8. Hannah SCOTT 9. Eilidh ADAMS 10. Shannon MCGREGOR 11. Colette CAVANAGH 13. Emily MUTCH (GK) 15. Amy GALLACHER 16. Ellis NOTLEY 17. Joelle MURRAY © 20. Ria MCCAFFERTY 22. Chelsea MCEACHRAN 23. Rachel BOYLE 25. Sophie ALLISON (GK) 27. Addie HANDLEY 29. Kirsty MORRISON

www.spartansfcwomen.com