Perth High School 1

SCOTTISH UNDER-15s CUP

SEMI-FINAL

DREAMS of playing in a Scottish Cup final have come true for one Selkirk football team.

The Selkirk High School Under-15 girls will travel to McDiarmid Park, Perth, on Saturday, May 17, to play Calderglen High School in the final of what has been a long and gruelling tournament.

After beating Broxburn 4-1, St Augustine 9-1, Gala Academy 3-1, St Andrews 10-0 and Charleston Football Academy 6-2, the Souters only had one game standing between them and a final place.

And, on Wednesday night, they travelled to Meggetland in Edinburgh to play Perth High School in that all-important semi-final tie.

The Perth side started strongly, attacking every ball and pushing Selkirk onto the back foot.

But the defence, marshalled by Eilidh McGill, were well-disciplined and managed to hold their line, catching the Perth team offside on more than a few occasions.

Linda Stillie, the Selkirk goalie, had an excellent save in the eighth minute, which essentially kept her team in the game.

Sarah Robertson came into her own, picking the ball up in midfield, and although always heavily marked, was laying off good balls for strikers to run onto. Selkirk had a number of excellent strikes at goal, but few with any power.

In the second half, however, Selkirk began to dominate with Sarah and Heather Hotchkiss getting more space in midfield, and the strikers making more penetrating runs.

The first goal came when striker Sarah Howden skinned the Perth right back, drove into the box, played a one-two and cracked the ball low and hard into the net.

Perth lost their shape and discipline and all long balls pumped forward were easily mopped up by an excellent Selkirk defence.

An excellent corner slung in from Heather Hotchkiss provided a second goal for the Souters, with Mhairi Grieve rising well to head home from six yards.

Perth put pressure on Selkirk in the last 10 minutes and were rewarded with a consolation goal in the last minute of the game.

Squad: Emma Wood, Amy Sanderson, Madie Arlett, Eilidh Mcgill, Michela Henderson, Stephanie Grieve, Sarah Robertson, Heather Hotchkiss, Mijsje Vanwieringen, Mhairi Grieve, Shannyn Sparks, Linda Stillie, Sarah Howden and Zoe Davis.