Cometh the hour, cometh the woman, could have been the motto for Cumbernauld today. They owed a massive debt to Frances Fern for a hard fought for three points against Renfrew.
Fern scored in injury time at the end of each half to give her side the three points. A performance that earned her the PoTM award.
Renfrew had showed why they were sitting second in the table before the match, when they clinically opened the scoring on 18 minutes with their first shot on goal. The home side slept as the visitors took a throw and allowed Claire Rae to run along the 18 yard line and unleash a low drive that beat keeper Lisa McPhee down to her right.
Another piece of slack marking by Cumbernauld let the visitors double their lead just before the half hour, a ball across the six yard area was tapped him past McPhee.
Cumbernauld then seemed to waken up and created may chances to get back into the game that they squandered. With 45 plus 1 on the clock the home side took a throw to midfielder Betty Kerr who played the ball cross-field to Lauren Shaw. Shaw fed Frances Fern who took a step into the right an unleashed an unstoppable shot over McQuillian in the away goal.
The home side started the second half knowing the next goal in the match would be key to the result and they were to get it on 70 minutes. Melissa Porter finishing a great piece of build up play to level things up. Porter, who always gives everything for her side injured herself I the process. Porter managed to continue for another ten minutes before being substituted for Laura Dickson.
With the bit between their teeth Cumbernauld were to compete an astonishing turnaround with the clock on 90+2 and it was Fern’s late, late, show to the rescue. She was impeded in another last ditch attack and awarded a free kick. She took the responsibility herself and struck her shot high into McQuillian’s top right corner.
There was still a further 5 minutes of injury time remaining following several stoppages. Cumbernauld knew they’d need to keep things tight as Renfrew had put them out of the Scottish Cup last season with a wonder strike in the last seconds of that game and could be dangerous up until the final whistle blew.
Post match, coach Paul Wilson praised his side, advising them their performance in the second half of the match was the best 45 from them he’d witnessed since coming to the club. The resolve and desire shown to scrape a win was superb from everyone involved.
Reported by Stephen Bole
Cumbernauld Colts FC
