I’M HOOKED ON HEROINES
Class Cuthbert and her Scots team-mates suceed where our men fail
BARRY FERGUSON was right in his Record Sport column to hail the best Scottish talent to emerge at Chelsea for a generation.
But it’s not Billy Gilmour. If you’re talking about a playmaker from the London aristocats who’s already making their mark at senior international level look no further than Erin Cuthbert.
An energetic bundle of aggressive, perpetual motion, it was her double against Belarus on Thursday that kept Scotland’s women on course for the World Cup in France in 2019.
It also served to underline her reputation as the finest Scottish female player to emerge since Kim Little at Hibs a decade ago, en route to success at Arsenal that’s included two Premier League titles and three FA Cup winners’ badges.
It’s easy to knock the women’s game – yours truly has been a crass culprit in the past – but they succeeded where the men have consistently failed by qualifying for the European Championship last summer.
There’s also a strong and growing connection between players and fans that saw more than 2000 turn out at Falkirk, superbly marketed and promoted by the SFA.
Bunjee jumps, beat-the-goalie and face painting was available on the backfields to further attract a growing number of girls, especially, with appreciative parents in tow who know they’ll unlikely spend a better £2 this summer on a day out for their kids.
My 10-year-old scours the SFA website for the next Scotland fixture, not least because the games are entertaining and, better still, she gets to rub shoulders with her heroines after the match.
Smiling striker Lana Clelland provided the latest in a long line of happy snaps for my wee one that also includes pictures of her with Jen Beattie, Jane Ross, Lisa Evans, Lee Alexander and, of course, Cuthbert. Can you imagine top-flight stars in the men’s game holding off their trip down the tunnel to the dressing room after the warmdown to mingle with fans and pose for selfies?
That’s exactly the commitment the women make to supporters, with thanks for their time invariably meeting with a genuine response of: “No, thank you for coming along and giving us your support.”
The women’s game isn’t perfect – poor goalkeeping damages the reputation of the sport, although it’s staggering more isn’t made about playing with full size goals.
Women are, on average, six inches shorter than men and as you watched a speculative shot from distance fly over the head of Scots keeper Alexander you were left to wonder why they don’t just consider dropping the bar.
But then the joys far outweigh the despair – unusual for a Scotland team in itself – with Cuthbert at the centre of all that’s good about Shelley Kerr’s squad.
Short and powerful, she has the feet of a ballet dancer and the heart of a lion, driving at defences, picking passes in key areas others can’t see and with a canny eye for goal.
She grafts when she’s off the ball and is creative when she’s on it and plays with an enthusiasm that’s as infectious as her personality afterwards when participating in the meet and greet with her growing army of girl fans.
Shamefully, this dreadful dad went home after the match and allowed his girl to watch Love Island before bed, where a leggy blonde from Stirling was wondering if she should allow herself to spoon with a hunk called Wes she’d met 48 hours previously.
Forget the trash TV – when it comes to model pros for this generation of girls the only cast member from Made In Chelsea really worth the following is Kilwinning’s Cuthbert.