St Johnstone Women marked their last match before the league split with a convincing 5-1 victory over Stirling University at the McDiarmid Astro on Sunday.
Ahead of the match, it was announced that manager Josh Henderson had added to his ranks with the signing of midfielder Juliana Bennett Luna. Also making her first appearance since returning to the club was defender Megan Burns.
Saints started brightly with Elvie McLean having a shot go over in the first minute. There was continued pressure and, in the ninth minute, they took the lead. Stirling cleared the ball out to the right where Daisy Smith gathered it on the touchline, 25 yards from goal.
A shout of “whip it in” came from Jodie Malcolm, and Smith did as she was instructed, whipping the ball in and straight into the net beyond the outstretched arm of Stirling goalkeeper Amy Marshall.
Smith walked off, hands covering her mouth in an apparent state of disbelief that her first goal for the club had come in such a manner.
Just three minutes later there was another first Saints goal, this time for Leni Parrish. Niamh Irvine played a ball inside to McLean, who placed a perfect pass forward for Irvine to latch onto.
Her strike was too powerful for Marshall to keep hold and, as Malcolm’s attempt to turn the ball home was blocked, it squirmed free bouncing towards the net where Parrish made sure from a couple yards out.
As the half hour mark approached, Saints got a third. Malcolm was fouled out on the left resulting in a free kick, swung into the box by Eirinn McCafferty. Marshall again was not able to cleanly take the ball, spilling it right at the feet of Megan Burns who had a simple finish.
The second half started with two near misses. Irvine flashed a ball across the box from the right wing which Malcolm was mere inches from connecting with, leading to a sure fourth goal.
Burns may have been strolling down the left most of the match, but for those watching it was a stroll down memory lane as, just like in her first spell with the club, she flighted in multiple exquisite balls from the left.
One such cross just two minutes after that Malcolm miss saw McLean, leg fully outstretched again, come within inches of diverting it into the net.
The fourth goal eventually came in the 54th minute and it was a solo effort from Malcolm. She shirked a tackle 35 yards out and, doing well to stay on her feet, she chased down the ball, turning inside at the edge of the box and dispatched a strike low past Marshall.
Two minutes later Saints had a fifth through Irvine. Coming down the right flank into the box, she did well to hold off a Stirling defender and then side foot the ball low past Marshall.
Just after the hour mark there was a slight blot on the Saints copybook as Stirling got a goal back. Olivia McHarg was able to get on the end of a through ball ahead of Saints keeper Bobby Cochran, taking the ball wider on the right and slotting home into an empty net.
A similar chance fell late in the half to Kendra Wells who was denied twice by Cochran before then firing wide.
Saints maintained good pressure until the end, winning a number of corners and free-kicks. Rebecca McMillan glanced a header wide from a Burns free-kick, while Lila Aitchison got her head on a McLean cut-back but couldn’t direct it goalwards.
McLean herself had one last chance of note, a long-range effort going just wide of Marshall’s left-hand post.
Saints now have a two-week break before the post-split fixtures, to be announced this Wednesday, commence taking on East Fife, Livingston and Stirling University.
Saints: Cochran, K. Brady, McLean, Malcolm (Aitchison), Irvine (Taplin), McCafferty, McMillan, Smith, Parrish (Bennett Luna), S. Brady (Anderson).
