Author: kcandy

SWPL2: Forfar Farmington 4 Buchan 0

It is now ten games unbeaten for Forfar Farmington after a comfortable four goal victory at home to Buchan on Sunday.

Cheryl Kilcoyne opened the scoring after just sixteen seconds with Nicola Davidson scoring from the spot before the break. An own goal made it three before Danni McGinley netted her first goal since returning to the club last week to complete the scoring.

Two changes were made from the previous week’s win in Leven with Kirsty Deans and Laura Parsley making way for Kayleigh Brough and Danni McGinley.

Farmington got off to a perfect start when a long ball allowed McGinley to race clear of a static defence and she cut the ball across goal for Cheryl Kilcoyne to stab past the keeper.

Alison Debio came close to netting her first goal for the club shortly after however her efforts were well held by Buchan keeper Lauren Sangster.

Julia Scott struck low at Sangster in the 20th minute with Forfar hunting for a second and Kilcoyne was unlucky not to find the net a minute later with a drive forward that ended in a save from the keeper.

The only Buchan chance of the first half came from Jo Murphy; the winger could only strike wide of the mark.

Kilcoyne had another shot pushed wide before Megan McCarthy hit the bar with a header from Scott’s corner.

In the 36th minute Farmington were awarded a penalty when Sangster took Kilcoyne down. Captain Nicola Davidson stepped up and blasted the spot kick home.

Farmington came close to a third on the stroke of half time when Debio’s well struck effort looked goal bound however Sangster did well to claw the ball wide.

McCarthy had the ball in the net six minutes into the second half however the assistant had her flag up for offside.

It was 3-0 just four minutes later; Davidson’s cross was sliced into the top corner by Buchan defender Fiona Ritchie from six yards out.

McGinley edged closer and closer to scoring as the second half progressed with Sangster denying her every time.

In the 70th minute Kilcoyne sent a through ball to Scott and she turned a defender before seeing her shot tipped wide.

Buchan sub Caitlin Matthews tested McNicoll with a fierce shot with the keeper having to look sharp to push over the bar.

McGinley, Scott and sub Laura Parsley all had efforts held by the keeper but it was the former who completed the scoring in the 83rd minute; Parsley laid the ball off for her and after turning a defender lashed home for her first goal since returning.

The attacker had a couple of chances to add to the tally late on but couldn’t find the target.

In the final five minutes Fiona McNicoll came off as U15 keeper Oliwia Gach made her Premier League debut.

Farmington stay nine points ahead of Motherwell at the top of the SWPL2 and will face them in a fortnight in the final game before the summer break. This week sees the side travel to Kirkcaldy to face SWFL2 side Raith Rovers in the SSE Scottish Women’s Cup second round.

Forfar Farmington: Fiona McNicoll (Oliwia Gach 87), Gemma Collier, Leah White, Kayleigh Noble, Nicola Davidson (Laura Parsley 62), Cheryl Kilcoyne (Alana Bruce 82), Megan McCarthy, Julia Scott, Alison Debio, Kayleigh Brough, Danni McGinley
Subs not used: Erin Cattanach, Beth Shillitto, Robyn Smith

Buchan: Lauren Sangster, Gemma Rae, Jennifer Urquhart, Fiona Ritchie (Trialist 73), Natasha Wiseman, Danita Ritchie, Julia Reid (Bethany Emslie 73), Joanna Murphy, Zoe Smart, Leanne Reid, Sophie Anderson (Caitlin Matthews 59)

 

U-17 League Cup: Boroughmuir 0 Forfar Farmington 1

A spate of injuries that have all come at once looked as though it might adversely impact Forfar Farmington U17’s progress in the League Cup as they travelled through to Edinburgh to take on Boroughmuir Thistle in the first round of this year’s competition.

These injuries meant that only ten girls were able to start the match, with no substitutes available. To make matters even harder for the girls was another injury during the game meant that they played most of the game with nine players and, on top of that, were the really difficult weather conditions! The horrendous wind meant that the isobars on the weather map were very tight together however not nearly as tight as the Forfar Farmington spirit as our girls fought against the odds to win a well-deserved victory.

The girls kicked off with the wind at their backs. As the game progressed you could see that Forfar had put any idea of being a player down out of their minds as they worked very hard from front to back to build some consistent pressure on their opponents. The Boroughmuir defence was proving to be a competitive one and although they found themselves under pressure they worked hard to prevent any clear cut goal scoring chances. On a couple of occasions the Forfar defence, superbly marshalled by Katie White, was tested however they stopped any threats being made on their goal.

Forfar found themselves even more up against it after 30 minutes when Eve Warden suffered an ankle injury. Although she attempted to continue playing it proved too uncomfortable so her withdrawal saw Forfar down to nine players. In spite of this Forfar took the leads with a beautiful goal from the left foot of Phillipa McCallum. With the keeper off her line Phillipa saw her chance from 25 yards to angle a real pearler of a strike high into the goal. This lead was a well-deserved and very welcome one in view of the fact that the girls would have to face their opponents with the wind at their backs in the second half.

The second half saw the girls under a bit of pressure from Boroughmuir with long range efforts mainly being fired straight at our keeper. A couple of very dangerous corners were fired across the Forfar goal but on both occasions nothing was made of those excellent opportunities to draw level. Steffi Simpson’s pace saw her carve out a couple of chances but the Boroughmuir keeper stood strong against both.

The final whistle eventually came and with it a place in the draw for the second round of the League Cup for our girls. A quite extraordinary victory in what was a really strong and committed team performance under challenging circumstances.

SWPL Departures Confirmed

Four of last seasons SWPL1 squad have departed the club.

Lindsay Dunbar, Holly Napier, Amy Gallacher & Jade McLaren have signalled their intention to continue their footballing activities elsewhere

Head Coach Mark Nisbet commented “The players exercised the opportunity to speak to other clubs, and have subsequently expressed a wish to move. We certainly those players well in their future endeavours.”

Nisbet went on to confirm that the remainder of last year’s squad had all expressed their wish to continue with the club in 2017, and that he would be in a position to announce signings to the club’s new blended squad early next week.

Women’s Performance Programme Expanded

The club are pleased to announce the launch of an expanded performance based senior programme, which will see an enlarged first team pool enjoy a holistic, player focused approach to development within a competitive SWPL environment.

With the impending launch of a next seasons SWPL Development League, the enlarged Performance Squad will operate as a single entity which will complete fixture cards for both the SWPL and SWPL Development League.

The expanded Women’s Performance Programme will benefit from the already established, and in some cases, enlarged support packages.

  • 4x football session per week
  • Coaches (including goalkeeping) qualified to level required for SWPL1.
  • Sports Science support including; strength & conditioning, training monitoring (via latest methods including GPS), and more. 
  • Physiotherapist & sports therapist support dedicated to the SWPL Performance Squad.
    Individual & team video performance analysis.
  • 1st Class facilities at the club’s own Market Muir HQ
  • Training & playing facilities at Forfar Athletic’s 3G Station Park (SWPL1 Compliant)
  • Dedicated Media Officer Support.
  • Club Chaplaincy support

“We carried out a successful mid-season pathway re-boot which has already borne fruit” explains SWPL Head Coach Nisbet. “Our new 17s squad are now being challenged week in, week out and the players in the current Development Squad are acquitting themselves extremely well at SWFL1 level” 

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“With the forthcoming SWPL Development League, expanding our senior performance programme to a size where it can complete both SWPL and SWPL Development fixture cards was a natural progression of the initial groundwork that has already taken place. There is nothing overly new in this approach in my opinion, indeed myself and the staff already have a proven track record for developing players over a number of years. We now apply a slightly augmented methodology to players from our current SWPL & Development squads.”

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“We want as many players to be given the opportunity and support they need to be the very best players they can be, and the best way for us to provide that is to operate a fully integrated performance programme of established SWPL players and the best youth players in the region”.

“We are fortunate to have numbers in both categories already, however servicing two fixture cards means there are opportunities for new faces from both groups to join us. We aim to provide a centre of excellence for players in the region.”

Check back next week for more comment from the club’s senior coaching staff.

Loan Deal Boost for North East Sides

Granite City Ladies and Forfar Farmington have agreed terms on the temporary transfer of Goalkeeper Kate Williamson.

Kate returns to her former club for a short spell, having fallen behind former youth international Allanah Chatham in the Granite City goalkeeping pecking order.

Granite City, currently eleven points clear at the top of SWFL2 North, were happy to entertain an approach from SWPL/SWFL1 Forfar to offer Kate the opportunity for some game time.

Manager Dave Easton explained “We knew Kate was going to be doing a little bit of travelling in the summer, so we brought in Allanah who has done really well in the interim resulting in Kate cooling her heels on our bench”

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“Allowing Kate to join Forfar for a shot spell will not only benefit her personally in terms of match practice, but also allows her to see something of the standard of opponent that we will hopefully see next season. It’s a win for all parties concerned.”

Farmington Goalkeeping Coach Kevin Candy added “We are immeasurably grateful to Dave and Granite City for being supportive of this move, and we will certainly be doing everything we can to return Kate north in the best condition possible”

“Due to the ‘cool-down’ regulation that governs movement between Women’s squads, which I’ve always maintained should never applied to recognised Goalkeepers anyway, our senior Goalkeepers Fiona (McNicoll) and Hannah (Dryden) have found themselves pigeon holed into match day squads, which made dealing with the usual Goalkeeping knocks and injuries problematic.”

“We did give some consideration to seeking under-age dispensation for either AJ Meach or Oliwia Gach who are both performing wonderfully in 1st team sessions, but felt that we would be doing so for the wrong reasons. Both youngsters have plenty time ahead of them.”

“Kate is a terrific goalkeeper to work with and we’re delighted to have her back for this short spell”

Kate Williamson

Monifieth native Williamson started her career with her local club, before moving to Farmington in 2012. She made her SWPL debut during a pre-season match in 2013, against a Liverpool side who would go on to be crowned WSL champions that year. Having moved North to commence University studies, Kate joined Aberdeen in 2015, moving to Granite City a year after.

John Dunn

New Development Squad Coach: John Dunn

The Club are delighted to confirm the appointment of John Dunn to the role of Development Squad Coach.

As part of the recent re-boot of the player pathway, the club advertised recently for a Development Squad coach and were delighted with the level of interest.

Most latterly Assistant Manager at Forfar Albion, alongside a four year tenure as a Youth Head Coach with Monifieth Athletic, 42 year old Dunn admitted that whilst the opportunity to be involved in the Women’s game was a big draw that he did his research before applying for the post.

“I actually spoke to a few of the parents who I knew had kids at the club, along with (1st team Goalkeeping Coach) Mike Gourlay who I worked with at Forfar Albion, and all the feedback I received was really positive”

“I’d reached a stage in my coaching career were I felt I could do with a new challenge, and when I saw the post advertised, and given the advances that have been made in Women’s Football in the country, it was an easy decision to apply”

Despite only having been in post for a week, Dunn has been delighted with what he has seen thus far. “The standard on and off the park has been exceptional” he admits.

“Things are run on as professional a basis as possible, be it from the initial meetings with Mark (Nisbet) and John (Diplexcito), shadowing some of the first team sessions, or even the recent Summer Camp which I was delighted to help out with.”

“I’ve been made to feel very welcome from all of the management teams, coaches and most importantly the players”

Continuing on the topic of players, Dunn explained that he has a very clear vision on how to apply both the club’s and his own philosophies onto his new charges.

“We have a responsibility to take a group of young players and both educate and develop them in a manner that gives them every opportunity of participating in SWPL fixtures. The girls will be asked to not only work hard in training but to truly express themselves; mindful that the way of play used will mirror that of the current first team.”

“That’s the whole point of a Development Team – to have players both mentally and physically prepared to make a step up to the top level and both the Coaching staff and I are very mindful of that of we move forward.”

“We’ve already seen three girls make that transition successfully this season, so there can be no doubt that there are exciting times ahead at the club, and on a personal level it’s a challenge that I very much welcome.”

John will be supported by the incumbent coaching team of Stuart Cook, Mark Mitchell and Scott Millar.

SWPL Half-Season ticket Offer

The SWPL1 season gets back underway this coming Sunday, and as a thank you for the fantastic support from the side-lines to date, the club are offering half-season tickets for only £10.

Season Ticket

With five fixtures due to be played at Station Park, top level women’s football can be yours for only £2 a game – with U-16s continuing to be admitted for free.

Head Coach Mark Nisbet commented “Our players get a massive boost from the support shown from the side-lines, and with this terrific offer we hope we can encourage more people to pop up and lend their support for what is going to be a hugely important few months for the club”

The £10 Half-Season tickets will only be available on the gate this coming Sunday v Rangers – kick off is at 1pm.

Farmington Re-boot Pathway for Performance

The Club’s Football sub-group last week agreed to an Extensive Reorganisation of the Farmington Player Pathway.

In a bold move, the club has re-launched a number of age levelled programmes to ensure that the aim of providing football opportunities for players of all levels is maintained.

U-15s Programmes
The Club’s U-15 Performance Programme will be fast-tracked into U-17s League Football with immediate effect, to provide player’s involved with a level of intensity and challenge conducive to performance football development.

Farmington Flyers U-15s remain unaffected by any changes and will continue to represent the club in the East U-15s League.

U-17s Programme
Players within the U-17s programme have been promoted to the club’s SWFL2 North (Ladies) / SWFL1 North (Development) Women’s teams.

- Forfar Farmington (red) v Raith Rovers (dark blue) - Under 15 East Region Girls League Cup Final at University Grounds, Riverside - © David Young - www.davidyoungphoto.co.uk - email: davidyoungphoto@gmail.com
Pic: David Young – www.davidyoungphoto.co.uk

Ladies Programme
A revised squad will continue in SWFL2 North with players arriving from both the U-17s and Development Programme.

Development (Performance / U-20) Programme
A revised squad will continue in SWFL1 North with players arriving from the U-17s Programme, along with a newly appointed Head Coach who will be charged with transitioning the squad into next year’s U-20s National League.

The Club’s Head of Youth for U-15s upwards John Diplexcito explains that ensuring the club’s talented youth players had opportunity to develop was key. “At the start of the season we set the Youth Pathway up as we saw fit at the time. However as the season has progressed we have where players have been participating in matches where there is no real challenge and double figure scores were common place.”

“The pathway wasn’t fit for purpose – Our talented youth players were starting to stagnate with the lack of match day challenge, and really these heavy score lines serve no positive purpose to anyone involved.”

“The changes we have made will not only ensure that our most talented players find themselves in a challenging footballing environment, but will also secure a footballing home for any player irrespective of ability level.”

Coach Co-ordinator and SWPL1 Head Coach Mark Nisbet adds “This is one of the most positive and joined up football decisions I think the club has taken, certainly during both of my spells at the club.”

“It’s only been possible due to the willingness of our volunteer coaches and key stakeholders working together to develop a course of action which places player development at it’s very core.”

“We need to have youth players being challenged week in week out, with managed exposure to senior football. Women’s players playing within an environment that matches in with their footballing aspirations and potential. With both now in place I truly believe we have set the club on a tremendously exciting course.”

SWPL ‘Blinded’ by New Sponsorship Deal

Forfar Farmington are delighted to welcome Dundee based City Blinds as the SWPL side’s main sponsor.

Based in North Isla Street, Dundee but with branches in Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy and a sales presence in Perth, City Blinds has been established for over 16 years and has developed their product range from traditional blinds to encompass a wide product offering including iLiv homewards range, internal shutters and products perfect for interior design.

Ahead of the SWPL side’s recent match against Spartans, club Chairman Colin Brown commented “We are really delighted that City Blinds have agreed to come on board as our main SWPL sponsor.”

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“In these challenging financial times sponsorship can be difficult to come by, so to have a company backing us with a similar geographical catchment as the club itself is tremendous.”

City Blinds are the flag ship sponsors for the club news Adidas apparel range which is being cascaded throughout the club on an as and when basis.

For more information on City Blinds and to view their outstanding range of roller, venetian, shutters and I-Liv ranges, visit city-blinds.com or to sample their fantastic customer service why not visit a branch?

Dundee
4 North Isla Street. DD3 7JQ
Call: 01382 877788

Aberdeen
11 Summerhill Court. AB15 6TW
Call: 01224 200088

Kirkcaldy
39a High Street, Kirkcaldy KY1 1LL
Call: 01592 654062

Perth local sales line – 01738 633 633

Website: http://city-blinds.com/