Ladies – Oriam Walking Football

O40 Ladies Championship 31st May 2026

Oriam 4 v Jeanfield Swifts 0

Oriam 3 v Three Valleys Women 0

Oriam 2 v Rangers FFIT 1

Oriam 1 v Motherwell 0

O40 Ladies Championship 22nd March 2026

Oriam 3 v Rangers FFIT 0 (Friendly Match) (Amy Wilson x2, Sandra Meek)

Oriam 2 v John Sutton CC 0 (Forfeit Result)

Oriam 2 v Braehead FC Gold 0 (Amy Wilson, Rachel Walsh)

Oriam 2 v Rossvale 1 (Annie Waterston x 2 (1 Pen))

Oriam 2 v Linlithgow Rose Black 0 (Rachel Walsh, Carol Gilbert)

History in the making! As Oriam ladies embark on the first ever league campaign and points on the board before even kicking a ball as John Sutton CC could not fulfil their fixtures so all teams playing them that day given a 2-0 scoreline (will credit these goals to Shawna and Jackie!). This meant in order to give us 4 fixtures for the day we started our campaign at Ravenscraig with a friendly against Rangers, which worked out well for us. Allowing us to get a competitive game under our belts before the “real thing” and against one of the title chasing teams.

The ladies started off brightly and put Rangers under pressure early on with a quick kick off and shot and started the game deep in their half. Because of the attacking options we have we had a “shoot on sight” game plan. With the boarding behind the goals taking a bit of a hammering from “hot shot Amy” and Rachel! Lots of raised eyebrows and worried looks on the Rangers sidelines with our power shooting which eventually found its mark and Amy smashed one in from just inside their half, followed a few minutes later with her second. The girls were comfortable in the game and we made a few changes to give everyone an early opportunity to get game time, with Sandra coming on and adding a third near the end. In fact substitutions where to play a key role in our games. Final score Oriam 3 Rangers 0

Game 2 which essentially was our first league game seen us up against another title challenger in Braehead, a team that has a strong tradition in ladies football fielding several teams across the age groups. But again, we started on the front foot and put them under pressure early on pinning them to their own half for most of the game. In fact Wendy had very little to do throughout the first 2 games with the whole team making sure they protected their goal by blocking , tackling and some great tracking back. We go forward as a team and defend as a team was also one of our game plans and we did that well throughout the day. Our power shooting again paying off as Amy and then Rachel fired us to a 2-0 victory. Our first competitive 3 points on the board!

Game 3 v Rossvale, a lot of energy had gone into our first 2 games and we made a couple of changes albeit still a very strong team. However, it seemed the “Oriam 3rd game hoodoo” seemed to hit us. With some poor passing, marking and rattled up 3 early runs allowing Rossvale an early penalty which was dispatched into the corner of the net despite a valiant effort from Wendy who went the right way and nearly got a hand to it. So, for the first time we were in trouble and interesting to see how we handled it having to come from behind. Despite having a lot of possession Rossvale defence held out strongly and their occasional hitting us on the break meant we had to defend at times deeper than we had been in the previous games. With 5 minutes to go we made a few changes and on came our number 10 Annie which allowed us to get forward more and get our dangerous players further up the park. This pressure finally told on Rossvale with less than a minute to go, Rossvale gave away their 3rd running offence, penalty to

Oriam, a chance to salvage a point. Up stepped Annie who cooly smashed the ball into the corner of the net 1-1. We now restarted the game as the clock ticked past the 15 minutes and nearly at 16 when Rachel intercepted a through ball and quickly released Annie through on goal one on one with the keeper and she once again cooly passed the ball into the corner of the net 2-1 Oriam on 16 minutes!! (“Fergie time”) The loudest roar of the day from our sidelines greeted that goal. Final score 2-1

Our final game of the day was against Linlithgow Rose a team that we have played in a few cup competitions without much success. However, this was a different Oriam ladies team playing with confidence. As had been our game plan from the start we quickly got on the front foot and put Linlithgow under pressure early on with several shots from Sandra fired at their keeper who did well to keep them out. Linlithgow did get in behind us a few times but solid defending from Shawna, Rachel and Annie ensured very few shots at goals. Eventually we made the breakthrough halfway through with a lovely passing move between Annie, Amy and then nicely finished by Rachel. In fact our passing and moving throughout the day was a joy to watch and all the teams we played struggled with it. Tiredness began to creep in and Linlithgow were coming more into the game as they searched for an equaliser. We brought on our subs to try and shore things up only for a minute later for Carol to step into the pocket as Linlithgow struggled to clear their lines and fire a shot through a mass of players into the corner of the net 2-0 Oriam. This seemed to give us a new lease of life as shortly after that we again had another quick passing move opening Linlithgow up unfortunately from the referee perspective it was just to fast which was our third “not walking” offence and penalty to Linlithgow. Despite them scoring the penalty the striker had moved her foot so no goal. This seemed to sap Linlithgow and we comfortably seen out the game with some excellent football and ball retention and won 2-0

A great start for Oriam ladies, every single one of the players playing their part throughout the day so, 12 points from 12 we sit top of the league. But we are now no longer the surprise package and the target is on our back. But this team is up for the challenge and we go again in May in our next set of fixtures.