Friendly fun

With their Scottish Cup 2nd round match coming up next weekend, Jeanfield Swifts Girls U13s were eager to maintain their match freshness despite having a free weekend. Near neighbours Scone Thistle were happy to oblige and a friendly was arranged to ensure the girls could keep active this weekend.

Jeanfield's squad was reduced to a minimum through injury, unavailability and players moving up to the U15s this weekend. Scone, on the other hand, fielded a young team that has performed well in its first year at U13 and has built a reputation for playing attractive passing football.

In near perfect conditions, the home side kicked off and quickly went on the attack. However, after Jeanfield won possession they held on to the ball for long periods of the first fifteen minutes, and attacked repeatedly. Scone's defence was sound though, and neither Eilidh nor Beth found themselves with sufficient time to unleash a shot, despite promising looking build-up play.

In fact, it was Scone that came closest to scoring first, as their fast wingers broke out down the right before passing infield, with the shot passing just wide of the post. Time and again they broke and last-gasp defence from Danni and Leah was required to keep them from scoring.

Having realised that forays into the box would be closed down quickly by Scone's impressive defenders, Eilidh decided on 25 minutes to try her luck from range, and hit a lovely shot from 20 yards that found the back of the net.

Half time 0-1 to Jeanfield.

In the second half, Scone started more strongly, stringing together some fine passing moves and using their pace to great effect. Nevertheless, it was Jeanfield who moved further ahead, as a corner from Eilidh went in at the front post, after taking a deflection.

The game was opening up by this stage and Katie and Beth in particular were getting through a mountain of work. Having started the half up front, Beth dropped back into midfield allowing Abbie to operate as a striker up front, and she soon struck gold with a brace just two minutes apart. Beth was providing a constant source of ball from midfield, and Katie was chasing down absolutely everything that came her way. She earned her reward on 50 minutes, scoring from a cross from Abbie.

Whether Jeanfield took their eye off the ball at this point, or whether Scone simply found another gear, the home team scored three goals in four minutes to bring the score back to 3-5. With just a few minutes to go the game was finely balanced. Sensing that they only had to cling on for a little longer, Jeanfield worked the ball upfield, and another burst from Abbie took her past the Scone defender who had otherwise marshalled her so well all morning. Crossing the ball into the box, she found Anna who finished from a couple of meters out and sealed the win.

The final score of 3-6 to Jeanfield doesn't do justice to the amount of work and quality of play that Scone brought to the table today. Both teams battled hard and showed some really lovely touches. Thanks to Scone's officials and players for the opportunity to play them today, and also to Jeanfield stalwarts Andy and Stevie who came along to help out on the Jeanfield sideline.