Sunday 28th January, 2024 at 9:00am
This Sunday 28th January, PTWFC take on Montrose in SWPL1 action in a 2pm kick off away at Links Park.
With the recent historic fixture against Hibernian in the semi finals of the Sky Sports League Cup that secured a first final in the club’s history, the Jags will be going into this match with a lot of confidence as they look to end January with a 100% win record.
📍Links Park
🕐Sunday 28th January 2024 2pm
🎟️ £7 / £5 – https://montrosefc.ticketco.events/uk/en/m/e/montrose_fc_women_v_partick_thistle_fc_women…
🆓 Kids go free with an adult
📺 No Stream
💻Updates on Twitter
💻️Highlights and reaction post match
Montrose have had a better time of late having struggled at the start of the season following their SWPL2 title win last year.
Currently lying in 10th position with as many points, Craig Feroz’s side have definitely improved since their last visit to Petershill Park having gained victories over Dundee United in league action as well as thrashing Stenhousemuir 7-0 in the Scottish Cup a couple of weeks ago. As well as this, they picked up valuable points against Motherwell and Spartans and, despite losing the match 1-0, gave current holders Glasgow City a good match.
Key players for Montrose include the likes of Louise Brown, scorer of her side’s goal in our last contest, as well as Neve Guthrie who is a tricky forward capable of playing off both wings and through the middle. Lauren Perry in net for Montrose made some fantastic saves in the last meeting while Amy Ridgeway also provides valuable experience for her side.
Alongside this, they have added depth in numbers over the January transfer window so it will be interesting to see how their team lines up on Sunday.
Speaking of their last visit to Petershill Park, Montrose lost 2-1 to the Jags thanks to goals from Rachel Donaldson and Imogen Longcake in a game that allowed us to progress to the semi finals of the Sky Sports Cup.
A lot was at stake for the Jags heading into the semi final match up against Hibs. As the only part time side left in the competition, nothing changed in terms of preparation for Brian Graham’s outfit as they approached the game like any other. Cold, wet and blowing a gale, Petershill Park was going to experience a tough game. One thing we did know however was that Grant Scott’s side would come out swinging having suffered a shock home defeat 2-0 earlier in the season, and that they did.
Starting off on the front foot, Hibs tried to use their wide areas to their advantage often giving the ball out to Kirsty Morrison or to former Jag Abbie Ferguson, who created the best chance of the first half by that point as she used her tricky skills to drop the ball to inform Michaela McAlonie who put dangerous cross into Ellis Notley who couldn’t convert.
Thistle would get more into the game however and were only fired up more as Linzi Taylor was denied a stonewall penalty, actually receiving a yellow card for her troubles. This lit a fire under Brian Graham’s side and following a foul by Leah Eddie on Cara Henderson outside the area, Taylor would step up and put her free kick into the back of the net giving the Jags a 1-0 advantage. 10 minutes later, things would go from bad to worse for Hibs as Eddie put in a reckless and frankly unnecessary challenge on Taylor in the centre of the pitch which would see her receive a second yellow leaving Grant Scott a player down. The very scrappy half would end with the Jags in front with a huge 45 to
go.
The second half started as the first ended for Thistle as they were on the front foot and had it not been for good defending from Hibernian’s remaining defenders, Thistle would have been further in front. However, much like last week, Rosie Slater would score yet another worldie to give the Jags their second goal and would secure the win for the girls, making history and etching their names in the Thistle history books as the first side to reach a final since the Women’s team’s inception a decade ago.
Strong Followings from the Red and Yellow army have helped our girls massively this season none more so than Sunday with you all setting a new attendance record of 604, which Brian Graham believes would have been more had the storm not interfered. We would love to see as many of you up in Links Park as we can as we return to league action and look to continue our winning ways and try to secure top 6 once again.
Carla Boyce is once again available having been cup-tied against Hibs last Sunday which will provide a boost to Brian Graham’s attacking options. Claire Adams returned to the bench on Sunday having been out with injury for a while which provides another boost.
The physio will be assessing everyone this week for a few knocks and niggles following the feisty match against Hibernian. Other than that, it will be up to the management team to select the strongest team available and help towards our top 6 ambitions.
12th November 2023
PARTICK THISTLE 2
(Donaldson, 77′) (Longcake, 80′)
MONTROSE 1
(Brown, 60′)
