Shetland girls too good for Orkney in inter-county football

The Shetland women’s football team retained the inter-county trophy in the eighth annual match by defeating Orkney 5-1 at Gilbertson Park on a blustery Saturday afternoon.

The hosts got an early breakthrough with barely five minutes on the clock when holding midfielder Stacey Laurenson found herself in space and unleashed a stunning 30-yard drive which flew over the keeper into the net.

Orkney responded by sending waves of attack through the middle of the park but the well-marshalled defence of Rhea Nicolson, Carrie Morrison, Debbie Sneddon and Andrea Henderson dealt with everything, leaving keeper Sarah Couper little to do.

As half-time beckoned Jessica Bradley won the ball on the halfway line, beat a couple of defenders and homed in on goal. The ball broke to Emma Gray who coolly scored to open her account and send Shetland into the half-time break 2-0 up.

A frantic 10 minutes in the second half began with Gray getting her own second and Shetland’s third, Ruth Pottinger pulling one back for Orkney and then Henderson firing in a peach from 25 yards to kill off any hope of a revival.

In the dying minutes Toni Sidgwick jinked past a couple of challenges, got into the box and put a very composed finish past the keeper to make the final score 5-1.

For full report see The Shetland Times on Friday.