SWPL Team of the Week – 15th October

Team of the Week from the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League games played on Sunday 15th October.

Goalkeeper – Molly Reeve (Livingston)

Livingston remain in the race for the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League title after a 2-0 win over Stirling University. Reeve helped her side keep their third clean sheet of the season with three saves including a particularly important piece of goalkeeping just before the half-time whistle to deny Stirling Uni the opener. She also boasted impressive distribution stats with 100% accuracy with her short passing and 89% with her long passing.

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Defender – Eilidh Martin (Hamilton Academical)

Hamilton Academical earned a valuable draw at home to Montrose with the two sides remining just three points apart in the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League. Martin helped her side early in the match with a perfectly weighted pass to Josi Giard to open the scoring after just two minutes and boasted a solid 70% overall passing success rate. Defensively she won 13 duels, made six interceptions, and 12 recoveries across the match.

Defender – Mischa Rennie (Gartcairn)

Gartcairn earned their first point of the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 2 season with a 1-1 draw at home to Glasgow Women. Rennie, playing a versatile role across the pitch, was selected as Gartcairn’s Player of the Match. With four shots across the match, 81% successful passes, while also winning the majority of her duels, it was an important display from Rennie and her side to get off the mark this campaign.

Defender – Gill Inglis (Motherwell)

It’s Inglis’ second appearance in the Team of the Week this season after a thumping 6-0 win for Motherwell over Dundee United. The skipper played a vital role for her side on the right hand side with a goal and two assists. While her effort may have taken a fortunate deflection, Inglis was a constant threat to the United defence while providing support at the back to keep a clean sheet for the third time this season.

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Midfielder – Ellie Kane (Queen’s Park)

With her fourth inclusion in the Team of the Week already this season, it’s fair to say that Kane is in the form of her life right now. She continued her scoring run with a brace in their 3-0 away win over Boroughmuir Thistle to take her tally to 13 for the season. Both were impressive goals as Kane advanced from a deeper position with finishes showing her clinical and composed nature for Queen’s Park in 2023/24.

Midfielder – Kinga Kozak (Glasgow City)

The Polish international put in a fine display against Aberdeen on her birthday as she scored what was the winning goal for her side. It was a bright performance from the midfielder in what was described by Leanne Ross as overall “nowhere near good enough” from Glasgow City. Kozak hit the crossbar with City 1-0 ahead before scoring the third goal with a stunning half volley. Across the game she had a 78% successful passing rate, made 10 interceptions, and made 11 recoveries with 10 in the Aberdeen half.

Midfielder – Emma Rogers (Glasgow Women)

It was an impressive performance by Rogers on Sunday as she scored the only goal for Glasgow Women in their 1-1 draw at Gartcairn. With three shots across the match, two of which were on target, Rogers provided an attacking threat for her side while being solid on the ball with a 80% successful passing rate and a 75% successful dribbling rate. She also put in a solid defensive effort with six interceptions and 12 recoveries.

Midfielder – Paula Partido Duran (Celtic)

In a staring role for her side, Partido Duran showed why she has been called up for the Spanish U19 squad and that she may be yet another Celtic threat for ScottishPower Women’s Premier League players to watch. She had three shots in the match and scored the opening goal, taking a great touch before placing the ball past Megan Cunningham. Partido Duran was persistent for Celtic on Sunday with nine crosses, 17 dribbles, and making nine recoveries in the opponents half.

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Forward & Star Player – Kirsty Howat (Rangers)

Howat joins a unique group of Rangers players to have scored four goal at Ibrox as she ran rampant against Hibernian. The forward, who moves on to 12 goals in the league, was fortunate given some of the goalkeeping but showed why she is considered one of the most clinical strikers in the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League. With a total of 13 shots in the match, six of which were on target, Howat earns her place as the Star Player this week.

Forward – Olufolasade ‘Sade’ Adamolekun (Heart of Midlothian)

Adamolekun ended up being the star of a dramatic game at Ainslie Park as Hearts fought back from 3-1 down to eventually come away 4-3 winners. Adamolekun scored a Goal of the Season contender to bring the sides level at 3-3 before placing herself in the right place to receive Katie Lockwood’s cutback and score the winner. The Jamaican international takes her total to three for the season in the league after three full matches back-to-back for the club.

Forward – Morgan Steedman (St Johnstone)

Narrowly missing out on the Star Player is St Johnstone forward Morgan Steedman following her hat-trick against Kilmarnock. With the Saints having a slow start to the season and their opponents unbeaten, it was somewhat a shock result and largely down to Steedman’s goals. The forward found herself in the right place to reduce the deficit to 2-1 before she eventually produced an acrobatic effort to give her side the lead with 86 minutes played. Steedman added icing to the cake as she cut inside and fired the ball home from the edge of the box in the final moments. She moves on to seven goals this season in the league and is second only behind Ellie Kane.