Match Report

Our women’s side fell to a 3–1 defeat away to Linlithgow Rose despite an excellent, often dominant performance earlier this evening.

Women’s Head Coach Gerry Gallacher was without key players such as Gemma Smith and the injured Sophie Reid for the trip to Xcite Linlithgow, but he did welcome back Teigen Calder and Gracie Williamson to the matchday squad.

We started strongly, with top scorer Gemma Russell recording the first effort on goal inside the opening ten minutes, but her swivelling strike was comfortably saved by the Rose goalkeeper.

Our young midfielder, 15-year-old Amy MacPherson – already a regular in the first team – came agonisingly close to opening the scoring soon after.

A superb corner from captain Eva McInnes ricocheted around the area before falling to MacPherson at the back post, but off balance, all she could do was poke the ball towards goal, striking the post. It summed up our afternoon: so close, but luck firmly against us.

Again, as has so often been the case this season, we failed to take our chance and were punished at the other end when a mistake at the back gifted Rose the opener.

A looped ball over the top was cut out by right-back Natasha Lewis, whose challenge prevented it reaching the winger, but her touch inadvertently diverted the ball into the path of the striker. She ran through on Kira Swallow and blasted past the Sons keeper to make it 1–0.

The girls’ heads did not drop, however. Calder, on as a substitute, almost made an immediate impact.

After good build-up play from Neamh MacNeil and Williamson found the winger free on the right, she forced Rose goalkeeper Abbie Tomczynski into a near-post save.

Central defender Niamh McAleer then rose to meet a McInnes corner, but once again Tomczynski denied us. The rebound fell back out to McInnes, whose follow-up effort smashed off the outside of the post.

Russell and Calder each had further chances before the interval, but we went in a goal down at the break.

The response after the restart was immediate. Williamson looped a ball into Russell just behind the penalty spot; she controlled superbly before mis-hitting her shot into the ground, but fortunately it bounced perfectly and rolled into the bottom corner to bring us level.

Sadly, parity was short-lived.

A cross into the Dumbarton box struck the hand of MacNeil, and Rose expertly dispatched the resulting penalty past Swallow to restore their lead just a minute after conceding.

Still, the heads never dropped. After two excellent saves from Swallow and a Rose effort that crashed off our crossbar, Russell and Calder each came close once more.

But when your luck is out, it’s out. A superb delivery from a Rose corner was cleared by McAleer, only for the ball to cannon off her defensive partner Mirren Esdale and into the net – a cruel deflection that made it 3–1 to the hosts.

Despite late chances for Mya Logan and McInnes, we couldn’t find a route back into the match and left West Lothian with nothing to show for what was a hugely improved and mature performance.

Post-match, Gallacher said: “The girls did not deserve that scoreline. It was a great game under the floodlights.

“Both teams created chances, and it was an enjoyable spectacle from my point of view because my players delivered on everything I asked of them.

“Lucia Sereno and Amy MacPherson particularly stood out for me today, but it was a brilliant team performance.

“However, the team must learn from today, move into next week knowing we can’t continue to gift the opposition goals, and that we need to start winning matches.”

We return to home action next Sunday at Mountblow against West Park United, with a 2.15pm kick-off.

We defeated West Park 4–0 earlier in the season during our ScottishPower Regional League Cup group-stage campaign.

Linlithgow Rose Ladies 3

22′, 48′ (P), 69′

Dumbarton Women 1

47′ Gemma Russell

Read the full results and table from SWFL Central-West