Goals galore as Lionesses stake claim in promo race
It’s lucky 13 in two victories
Two wins and 13 goals in the space of three days kept Livingston Women firmly in the Championship South promotion race.
The Lionesses trounced Ayr United 8-1 on Sunday and followed that up with an emphatic 5-1 triumph away to Hutchison Vale on Tuesday night – with top scorer Ashley Fish on form as she netted a hat-trick in both contests.
The six points sees Livi close the gap on Rossvale to just four points, with the Lionesses having a game in hand.
And they are set to host the leaders at the Tony Macaroni Arena in a pivotal clash on Sunday.
The resounding nature of the win over Ayr United was particularly pleasing to coach Paul Jaconelli, given that it was the site of their only away loss of the season and they had only narrowly defeated the same opponents last month when Gemma Mason’s match-winning free-kick proved to be the final kick of the ball.
Jaconelli said: “It was a really pleasing performance and the girls looked relaxed.
“Everything clicked and the girls took their chances.
“Now it’s just a case of us trying to keep that level of performance up during what is going to be an exciting and challenging end to the season.”
Skipper Vicky Wood opened the scoring on three minutes against United, only for Livi to be pegged back shortly after.
Fish opened her tally on 25 minutes with a fine header and it then became an entirely onesided game. Jen Dodds and Fish would find the net to make it 4-1 at the break before goals from Shannon Mulligan and Fish completing her hat-trick within seven minutes of the restart put the game firmly to bed.
Wood grabbed her second midway through the half, before Jess Murphy completed the scoring five minutes from time.
The Lionesses ensured there was no slip up with another fine display in the capital on Tuesday night against Hutchison Vale.
Fish got on the end of a Sharon Hughes-Lee cross in the ninth minute to open the scoring before doubling her tally before the interval.
Dodds made it three just before the hour mark, with the hosts pulling one back 15 minutes from time.
Livi have been guilty of throwing away late leads this season but there was no repeat this time round as Fish made it consecutive hattricks four minutes from time before Tash Frew completed the scoring.
Everything clicked and the girls took their chances Paul Jaconelli