St Johnstone Women started their ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 2 season with defeat away to Kilmarnock on Sunday afternoon.
With Rugby Park being used by the Kilmarnock men’s side, the teams met at Winton Park in Ardrossan on the Ayrshire coast.
Ahead of the match, there was news of a new addition to the Saints ranks with midfielder Leni Parrish joining the club. Parrish knows the league, having played for Rossvale and Boroughmuir Thistle.
There were debuts for all the new summer recruits with Brogan Anderson, Klara Brady and Emily Shanks in the starting 11, while Kristen Taplin and Parrish made appearances off the bench in the second half.
The home side opened the scoring after just four minutes. Lucie Burns powered her way down the left into the box, cutting back for Kelsie Crainie to place the ball high into the net from seven yards out.
Saints settled and contained the direct style of play from Kilmarnock for a while, but it would be the ball over the top which saw the lead doubled. Burns held off Brady and then rifled a powerful strike past goalkeeper Bobby Cochran.
Five minutes later, it was another through ball and this time Cara Gray was able to run clear of the Saints back line and score. Kilmarnock added a fourth after 37 minutes when Skye Stout stepped up and curled a free kick into the top right-hand corner.
Into the second half and, after being denied by Cochran on a couple occasions, Kilmarnock netted a fifth when Abby Robinson scored.
With 20 minutes remaining, Saints got a goal back. Shanks was fouled and, from the penalty spot, Rachel Howie made no mistake. Not a minute later she had a second.
Elvie McLean picked up the ball in midfield from the restart and played it wide to the right to Jodie Malcolm, who sent a perfectly flighted delivery for Howie to finish.
With 10 minutes left, Robinson scored her second and Kilmarnock’s sixth with a curling effort.
The Saints return to the McDiarmid Park astro this coming Sunday. Kick-off against East Fife will be 4pm.
