Shetland women ready for league cup semi-final after Scottish Cup triumph
Blues face packed schedule in coming weeks
SHETLAND women’s football team have one foot in the Highlands and Islands league cup final after their Scottish Cup heroics last weekend.
The blues meet Sutherland in Golspie on Sunday, leading 3-0 from a first leg that Sutherland forfeited – giving Shetland a great chance at a second successive final.
The team have a packed schedule across the coming weeks, with their next Scottish Cup tie, an inter-county match and possibly the league cup final to play before mid-September.
Shetland coach Kevin Main said there was a chance they would have to play the inter-county on Saturday 29 August and their Scottish Cup clash with Aberdeen West End a day later.
“We didn’t have any NorthLink travel secured for that [Scottish Cup match], so we’ve been scrabbling around,” he told Shetland News this week.
“There are options out there. We could move the Scottish Cup to 13 September, but then we would have to fly there and back and the costs would treble.
“We certainly have a lot of sympathy for Stewarton Annick after what they went through. There’s nobody jumping in with assistance, in terms of finance.”
Shetland’s Scottish Cup tie with Stewarton last Sunday only went ahead after weeks of uncertainty, with the Ayrshire side scrambling to secure enough cash to fund the trip.
After the 3-0 milestone success for Shetland in front of a packed Gilbertson Park, Main said the first feeling had been “relief” that the game had even happened.
“We were getting hourly updates from one of the Stewarton Annick team, so we were just relieved to see them get here,” he added.
Shetland had refused to play the match on the Scottish mainland, citing their home draw and the chance to host a Scottish Cup game in front of their own fans.
Main said that decision would pay huge dividends in years to come, with the next generation of girls able to watch their heroes up close.
“To be her, they need to see her,” he said.
“We had all ages there supporting, I was taken aback by the amount of people there. We had to drive to get the fixture played in Shetland, but it was worth it.”
After Stewarton’s arrival it was about focusing the lasses on the prize in front of them, he said.
“We spoke about how we thought the game would go, and thankfully it pretty much followed that,” Main explained.
“We prepared the girls for the big crowd because we weren’t wanting that to be adding any pressure on them.
“Some of the players didn’t seem to have any nerves at all – the younger girls were like that.
“A lot of them have represented Shetland in different sports already, so they come in really experienced in big game situations.”
Shetland produced a superb performance to comfortably see off Stewarton in front of an estimated crowd of 550 people, marking their maiden Scottish Cup fixture with an assured showing and comfortable win.
Young winger Roma Robertson giving them a half-time lead before two goals from forward Freya Leslie rounded off the victory.
Main said the primary focus on Sunday was “unshackling” their forward line and “letting them loose” on Stewarton.
“We had a little bit of knowledge about them, and we did change our system to introduce players to play at a higher pace than we maybe have before,” he said.
“We felt we could damage them in the wide areas. We spoke to them about executing a 4-3-3 effectively, and if you tell them once, they observe it and they just go and make it happen.”
Stewarton possessed a “physicality we hadn’t faced before”, Main said, but the players were encouraged not to get dragged into a battle – and to cut through them at pace instead.
Next up for Shetland in the second preliminary round of the Scottish Cup is Aberdeen West End, and Main is expecting a tougher test in the Granite City on 30 September.
“We’re probably expecting them to be more technical,” he said.
“It’s their first moves into the Scottish Cup as well, so surprisingly we’ll be the more experienced team.”
First up though is Sutherland this Sunday, with Shetland going in with a 3-0 lead after Sutherland forfeited the first leg.
In fact this second leg match is Shetland’s first game of the competition – with their opponents forfeiting every match so far against the reigning champions.
Main said they had felt the Scottish Cup was the “natural next step” after winning the league cup last year, but they had also decided to try defend their title.
“This hasn’t quite been the same experience as last year,” he said.
“It’s sad that we haven’t managed to achieve more competitive football on this occasion.”
Get through Sunday’s tie and Shetland will be expected to return to Elgin on Sunday 6 September for the final, and a chance at more silverware.
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