Livingston and FC Edinburgh boost promotion bids with convincing wins
Livingston and FC Edinburgh have boosted their promotion bids with convincing victories at the top of the Women’s Championship and Women’s League One respectively.
Goals from Livingston’s Anderson and Mulligan either side of a brace from Jennifer Dodds saw the West Lothian side beat Ayr United 4-1 at home in the Championship, while Renfrew Ladies took advantage of Rossvale’s game being postponed to move into second in the table after a seven goal thriller against Inverness Caley Thistle. Goals from Brown, Macleod, Munro and Wilkie secured victory, with a double from Inverness’ Hossack and a goal from Mackenzie in reply from the highlanders.
Hutchison Vale moved back into the top half of the Championship with a convincing 4-0 victory over Morton, which included goals from Zoe Evans and Gabby Anderson adding to a brace from captain Angyl Learmonth.
Deborah McLeod and Nic Rutherford will have had to compete for the match ball, after both grabbing hattricks for FC Edinburgh in their 10-0 demolition of Dundee West. Emma Mitchell grabbed a double with further goals from Hannah Markley and Louise Vaughan. The cup winners stretched their lead at the top of League One after second-placed Westdyke and third-placed Westdyke played out an entertaining draw in Aberdeen.
The weekend also marked the opening day of the new Biffa SWFL short season in its new format as part of the Scottish Women’s Football pyramid. SWFL league cup holders Harmony Row made a promising start by beating SWFL Plate holders Motherwell Development 5-3 in Renfrew.
The new sides entering the leagues had mixed fortunes. South Glasgow’s Flip the Mindset played out an exciting 4-4 draw with Annan Athletic, Athena Glasgow lost 5-0 in Alloa, Edinburgh University Thistle beat Falkirk development 7-2 and newly-formed Inverurie Locos edged out their also new local rivals Huntly 1-0 in the northern derby in front of 563 spectators.
