MATCH REPORT | St Johnstone Women 0-0 Boroughmuir Thistle

St Johnstone Women recorded their first draw of the season on Sunday in a goalless encounter with Edinburgh side Boroughmuir Thistle. 

There were two changes to the side which lost to Queen's Park two weeks ago, with Elvie McLean and Jodie Malcolm coming back into the starting 11 in place of Nicole Carter and Scarlett Brady. 

Boroughmuir had picked up narrow wins in the first two matches of the season, which are normally close physical matches when the sides meet - and this would again be the case on Sunday. 

Olivia Hurrell had the first effort of the game after 13 minutes. Picking the ball up 25 yards out, she fired in a low effort which went just wide of Beth Rennie's right hand post.

The visitors then came close to scoring at the other end just five minutes later. Bobby Cochran's clearance came off the back of a Boroughmuir forward and the ball looped high before a shot then went wide. 

Most of the match was being played in the middle of the park with the two teams cancelling each other out. 

As the half came to a close there were more opportunities as Jodie Malcolm used her strength to win a tussle and turn a defender before firing just wide from the edge of the box.

In the final minute of the half, a swift counter-attack by the Edinburgh side saw Cochran rushing from her goal out to the left corner of her box. She did enough to put off Emily Arthur whose effort flashed wide of goal. 

Into the second half and on offer was much the same as the first half. After an hour the first save by any keeper came from Rennie.

Jodie Malcolm drove into the box before passing the ball out to the right where Niamh Irvine struck a powerful shot and an excellent two-handed save from Rennie pushed the ball wide for a corner. Laura Steedman headed just wide from the corner.

Saints came closer still to scoring a short time later when Ellie May Cowie was inches away from breaking the deadlock as she slid in with an outstretched leg to meet an excellent cross in from Irvine on the right.

Cochran in the Saints goal had an easy catch from a strike from outside the box, but otherwise had a quiet afternoon for her second clean sheet of the season.

The defence in front of her didn't, however, and had to deal with a great deal of Boroughmuir pressure as the second half wore on. 

The last 10 minutes of the match had a frantic nature as both teams looked to find a winner and the match became more end to end but both sides managed to keep the other out, with applause from both sets of fans at the end when Jamie McCunnie blew for full time.

Saints remain in fifth place and now welcome Stirling University to Riverside this coming Sunday.

Reflecting on the match, manager Kevin Candy said: "I think it was a fair result on balance.

“A lot of the attributes both sides have cancel each other out and, if you look at the pitch, most of the marks will be in the middle of the park.

“It was one of our best defensive performances of the season and our second clean sheet in four matches. Coming off the Queen's Park result, to give a defensive performance like that was most pleasing.”

Saints: Cochran, MacIver (Brady), McLean (Sanchez), Cowie, Irvine (McCafferty), Moodie, Malcolm (Carter), Burns, Hurrell (Simson), Steedman, Robertson. Subs not used: Mitchell, Bidgood.