Scottish Women’s Premier League 1 The Official Matchday Programme
Sunday 10th of October 2021 Ainslie Park Stadium 1pm 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
Medical 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
Marcin Szostak Club Physiotherapist Amy Young Matchday Physiotherapist Toni Fraser Matchday Physiotherapist
SWPL Team Staff Debbi McCulloch Head Coach 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 Team Manager Amy Hogg Media Officer Robyn Dunn Sports Nutritionist Liam Thomson Video Analyst Dylan Morrison Sports Scientist
U19’s NPL Team Staff Alfie Smith Head Coach Michael Cranston Assistant Head Coach Charlene Lessells GK Coach Jason Cross Team Secretary
Girls Academy Daniel Blyth U17’s Head Coach Aaron Hunter U15’s Head Coach Stephen Burnett U15’s Head Coach
Club Information Website: www.spartansfcwomen.com Twitter: @spartansfcwomen Facebook: @spartansfcwomen Instagram: spartans_womens_fc
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This afternoon we welcome Paul, his players and staff to Ainslie Park. Motherwell secured their first three points of the league campaign last Sunday versus Hamilton and with a well deserved victory under their belts Motherwell will arrive this afternoon feeling confident. We know that we will have to be at our very best today if we are to secure another vital three points. Our last home game saw us draw 1-1 with Aberdeen Women. In a game, which could of went either way, we felt hard done by as we created numerous chances throughout the 90 minutes to secure three points. We then travelled west midweek to face an extremely talented Rangers side. We competed well for 60 minutes and then after scoring a goal, to make it 3-1, we switched off and got punished for doing so. Our 9-0 defeat against Glasgow City hurt us all. It was a poor performance against a clinical and well organised team. Losing two goals in four minutes made our heads go down and unfortunately we failed to react in a positive manner. This week has seen us regroup and reset with us reinforcing high expectations around our individual and team performances moving forward. The players are fully aware of where we need to improve and have owned responsibility for mistakes made and how we stop them happening again. Lastly, congratulations to Scott on passing his UEFA B Licence this week. Developing players is an important part of my role but I never lose sight of the importance of providing staff an opportunity to push themselves. Scott has worked extremely hard over the past 18 months and I have no doubt he will continue to progress as a coach. Your support matters greatly to all of us so please get right behind the players this afternoon as I know everyone really appreciates your support. Together is all that matters. Enjoy the game! #DBDF
DebbiDebbi McCulloch McCulloch
Photo courtesy of Craig Doyle Media
Lowland League | Henderson hat-trick guides Spartans to win at Gretna Blair Henderson took his season tally to twelve goals as his hat-trick helped guide Spartans to a 1-4 win on the road against Gretna in a game that provided one of Scottish football’s biggest talking points of the weekend. There was to be little love lost in the 26th minute however when Spartans took the lead in what proved to be controversial circumstances. A cross into the box found Blair Henderson who leaped to head towards the Gretna goal. As he landed, the ball was rebounding back into his path and with no whistle to halt him, he reacted with true striker instinct and put the ball into the net. The home side were clearly aggrieved as they surrounding Referee Lloyd Wilson claiming the rebound had occurred by hitting the rubber wheel at the side of the frame. As play raged on, the Spartans management team were keen to establish what had actually happened in the incident and a few minutes later, after discussion with the home dug out, the visitors drew level from an uncontested corner kick. It was a remarkable moment of sportsmanship that quickly drew warm applause from inside the stadium and online too. Half Time: Gretna 1-1 The Spartans There was to be no doubt over the goal that did see Spartans on their way to victory as Gretna defender Daniel Martins hauled down Blair Henderson on the six yard box line to give the Referee his easiest decision of the afternoon. Henderson stepped up and cooler than a Polar Bear’s toes, he despatched from 12 yards to make it 1-2. Just three minutes later, there was light between the sides when a determined piece of play by Cammy Russell saw his race past his marker to whip in a telling cross for Jamie Dishington to run onto and blast home under a challenge that saw the Spartans man and the ball find the back of the net from close range. Spartans fourth of the afternoon, and third within just ten manic second half minutes, saw another Cammy Russell delivery, this time from a free-kick, land on the head of Blair Henderson who claimed his first hat-trick for the club. It was another first moments later when Finn Robson, signed on loan from Dundee United during the week, made his debut, replacing Ian McFarland. The final whistle blew and an eventful day that is sure to keep people talking for some time to come. FT: Gretna 2008 1-4 The Spartans
Robyn McCafferty
5 Alternative ways to run our Alternative School Sitting here in June 2021 we can look back on the last year and evaluate how we kept connected with our students through a global pandemic and two lockdowns. We have 16 places for S3 and S4s for whom 5 days a week 6 periods a day in busy classrooms is just not the way they learn best. The March – June 2020 lockdown came suddenly, unexpectedly and with very little time for us to prepare the young people. So at least when the same situation came up in December 2020 we were better prepared and knew what to expect. 1:1 Almost all the academic teaching at the alternative school is 1:1 and we did the same on-line. Our students work best when they are freed up from anyone looking over their shoulders or watching what they’re up to. Many have had disruption to their education and may have been more often out of the classroom than in it. Every teenager is self conscious at the best of times. Practical Support Many of our families and young people needed support to access IT. In the first lockdown schools did their best but were unprepared. Partners like U-Evolve helped by supplying tablets and then we supported parents/carers and young people to access their work on-line, often via their mobile phones. Connection and Relationships Everything do at the Alternative School is grounded in the trusting relationships that we forge with young people and their families or carers. Every lesson – either face to face or on-line begins and ends with a chat and checking in with how the student is feeling. They set the pace of lessons and we empower them to ask for movement or screen breaks when required. The latest addition to this is mask breaks so they can go outside and continue chatting to staff without needing a mask. The chat is led by the young person and they choosPerseverance Perseverance Our students had to know that despite lockdown we were not giving up on them. Getting some of them to engage on-line took a great deal of perseverance but with the help of parents and carers we always got there in the end. Staff had to be willing to be flexible to reschedule or abandon calls until the young person was in the right space to turn up. Some drifted away for a week or two but with gentle nudging from us and parents/carers they would hook back in with us. Just at the point we’d think we had lost an individual, they’d reappear. That taught us all the importance of consistency and remaining open and curious to what might be going on for that student and how we could help to support them better. Belonging Our Alternative School is a physical and sensory experience – students missed cooking the lunch for the group, outdoor art activities with spray paint and boxing gloves, kicking a ball in movement breaks from English and Maths and working on digital music production with Heavy Sound. Now that we’re all back together the connection and the relationships are stronger and we’re working to get settled back into a more structured alternative way of working. Being an alternative school perhaps made us ready to seize the opportunities of being even more alternative whilst maintaining connection and finding ways to help our students succeed.
Position
Team
Played
Won
Draw
Lose
GD
Points
1
Rangers Women
5
5
0
0
22
15
2
Glasgow City F.C.
5
4
1
0
19
13
3
Celtic Women
5
4
1
0
13
13
4
Hibernian Women
5
3
0
2
8
9
5
Aberdeen Women
5
2
1
2
0
7
6
Spartans F.C.
5
1
1
3
-15
4
7
Heart of Midlothian
5
1
0
4
-8
3
8
Motherwell Women
5
1
0
4
-12
3
9
Partick Thistle
5
1
0
4
-12
3
10
Hamilton Academical
5
1
0
4
-15
3
Played
Won
Draw
Lose
GD
Points
Position
Team
1
Dundee United W.F.C.
4
3
1
0
8
10
2
Glasgow Girls & Women
4
3
1
0
4
10
3
Boroughmuir Thistle F.C.
4
2
1
1
3
7
4
Kilmarnock F.C. Women
4
2
0
2
5
6
5
St. Johnstone W.F.C
4
1
1
2
-3
4
6
Stirling University W.F.C.
4
0
2
2
-11
2
7
Queens Park W.F.C.
4
0
0
4
0
Photos courtesy of Craig Doyle Media
1. Alicia YATES (GK) 2. Louise MASON 3. Sarah CLELLAND 4. Simone MCMAHON 5. Dion MCMAHON 6. Ellie SIMPSON 7. Lisa RYAN 8. Katie FREW 9. Ronaigh DOUGLAS 10. Jade STENHOUSE 11. Alana MARSHALL © 13. Rachel HARRISON (GK) 14. Tegan REYNOLDS 15. Caley Gibb 16. Rosie MCQUILLAN 17. Robyn MCCAFFERTY 18. Rebecca GAILBRAITH 19. Leah SIDEY 20. Elena SANTOYO-BROWN 24. Katherine SMART 25. Katie REILLY
1.
Khym RAMSAY (GK)
2.
Rachel CONNOR
3.
Claire CROSBIE
4.
Chelsie WATSON
5.
6.
Joanne ADDIE
Amy ANDERSON 7.
8.
Kodie HAY Claire ADAMS
11. Lori GARDNER 12. Eilidh MARTIN 13. Laura McCartney 14. Gillian INGLIS © 15. Nicole CAIRNEY
16. Olivia POTTER 17. Kaela MCDONALD-NGUAH 18. Leanne CRICHTON 19. Holly NAPIER 20. Katie ANDREWS (GK) 21. Jordan MCLINTOCK 22. Georgie RAFFERTY 23. Abby SKELTON 24. Lauren DORAN-BARR 27. Jemma HUGHES 28. Murron CUNNINGHAM 30. Courtney WHYTE 66. Paige MCALLISTER
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