There was disappointment on Sunday for St Johnstone as they lost out 5-0 to Boroughmuir Thistle at Meadowbank Stadium.
There was nearly a Saints chance straight from kick off with Thistle keeper Beth Rennie forced to rush out and clear at the edge of her area as Brogan Anderson looked poised to connect with a ball forward.
The next opportunity came when Niamh Irvine crossed in from the right for Steffi Simson who got a shot away under pressure from a defender, but it was an easy gather for Rennie.
Boroughmuir’s first chance of the match came when a diagonal ball from the left was met by Lucie Livie who used her pace to get ahead of the Saints rear guard and force a relatively comfortable save from Bobby Cochran in the Saints goal.
Action then switched back to the other end as Jodie Malcolm crossed in from the right with Elvie McLean getting her head on the ball, Steffi Simson gathering and laying off to Leni Parrish who got a shot away. Parrish also went close with a strike when a corner was cleared only as far as the edge of the box a short time later.
It was certainly a physical encounter with Elvie McLean, Jodie Malcolm and Niamh Irvine on the receiving end of some heavy knocks.
With sixteen minutes on the clock, the home side opening the scoring. Lucy Livie floated in a corner and Ashley Elizabeth leapt highest to direct a powerful header beyond Cochran. The rest of the half really saw most of the action played out in the middle park, with little in the way of goalmouth action.
That changed though in injury time when Boroughmuir Thistle doubled their lead. Injury time quite the apt term as Bobby Cochran took a knee to the face as she went down to gather the ball with Holly Aitchison able to continue on and slot the ball into the empty net as Cochran lay prostrate on the ground. Despite protestations from the Saints players and coaching staff, referee Steven McLelland wasn’t moved, and the goal stood.
The second half started with a couple of chances for the home side with Cochran, who required treatment following her collision at the end of the first half, making a fine save from Ami Robertson a couple minutes after the restart.
As with the first half, once again much of the game was being played out in the middle of the park, but with just over twenty minutes remaining, the match was effectively put out of sight when Boroughmuir scored their third. Leah Sidey made her way down the left unimpeded swinging in a cross where Ami Robertson was in space to head home.
A fourth was only stopped at the last second by Niamh Irvine clearing on the goal line from Emily Reid, but it came soon after when Lauren Hall was played through and she was able to take the ball past Cochran for a composed finish with eight minutes remaining.
The fifth came in injury time when, despite a great tackle by Klara Brady, the ball broke kindly to Emily Reid who then had an easy finish from just inside the penalty area.
Saints now return to the McDiarmid astro on Sunday when they welcome Spartans with a 3pm kick-off.
Saints: Cochran, Jones, MacIver, McLean (Taplin) Simson (Aitchison), Clark (Brady), Malcolm (Shepherd), Irvine, McMillan, Anderson (Howie), Parrish.
