Motherwell WFC V Partick Thistle WFC – 26th November 2023

A simply outstanding month of November for Partick Thistle WFC was rounded off with a win away to Motherwell. The victory making it five wins on the bounce for Brian Graham’s squad, consolidating Thistle’s lofty position of 4th in the league.

And the strength of that squad of players was there to be seen with Graham making a number of changes from the side that had defeated Dundee United. Megan Cunningham, Clare Docherty and Kodie Hay all stepping into the starting eleven having been on the bench at Dundee.

Of that trio it was Cunningham that had the first telling impact on what would prove to be a thoroughly entertaining 90 minutes of football. The always dangerous McDonald-Nguah pushed through a pass for Boyce. Docherty did just enough to hold up Boyce’s run allowing Cunningham to save at the edge of her six yard box.

Play in the early stages of this match, as it was for much of the 90 minutes, was end to end and it was Thistle that had the next opportunity to snatch an early lead. Amy Bulloch’s ball down the right found Linzi Taylor with Imogen Longcake seeing her effort from Taylor’s cross hit the base of the Motherwell post.

The home side though took an 11th minute lead. A free kick on the right caused the Thistle’s defence problems and when Boyce’s hooked effort was blocked by Demi Falconer the referee adjudged that the Thistle captain had used a hand and pointed to the spot. Despite guessing correctly, such was the pace and precision with which Boyce hit her penalty Cunningham had little chance of saving it.

Thistle had recovered previously from conceding first in this impressive run of wins and they showed little sign of being negatively affected by the loss of that goal.

Rachel Donaldson had two efforts on the Motherwell goal. The first easily saved by Mutch, the second producing an altogether more impressive stop from the Motherwell keeper.

The Thistle equaliser though duly arrived after 27 minutes. Longcake used her not inconsiderable pace to get in behind the Motherwell defence to latch on to Falconer’s well-judged long ball forward. Longcake nipped the ball round Mutch before rolling it into the back of the net.

Within two minutes of the equaliser Thistle were in front much to the delight of the vociferous travelling support. Again Longcake was the scorer. This one a magnificent effort from just outside the Motherwell box that left  Mutch grasping for air as the ball flew past her.

There could even have been a third for Thistle before half-time with Hay shooting over the bar at the back post following a cross from the Thistle left.

It didn’t take Thistle long after the restart though to establish a two goal advantage. Donaldson had already been unfortunate with a shot that just cleared the crossbar and Amy Bulloch wasn’t too far off target with a shot from outside the box as Thistle started the second 45 minutes firmly on the front foot.

It was those two players, Bulloch and Donaldson, that would combine to score the Thistle third after 48 minutes. Bulloch’s pass found Donaldson who turned to her right before sending a shot high into the net. It was another quite magnificent strike.

With their tails up Thistle pressed for more goals. Emma Lawton’s surging run down the right nearly created am opening and Donaldson nearly had her second when she turned away from her marker inside the box only to see her shot narrowly clear the bar.

Donaldson was even closer when after collecting a Longcake cross she was only denied by a quite stunning save from Mutch that drew applause from both sets of fans.

Thistle did have a fourth goal, however, with 10 minutes of this thrilling encounter remaining. Leah Robinson’s free kick from the right finding the head of Falconer at the back post and her downward header found in turn the corner of the net.

Motherwell’s response to that goal was rapid. Jardine appearing at the back post to steer a low header into the corner of the net.

That had the potential of setting up a grandstand finish but in truth it was Thistle that came closest to scoring again before the final whistle. Henderson not managing to get quite enough on her shot at the edge of the 6 yard box to find the net.