3SR Season - Part 1
Matchday 1:
Abingdon Celtic 1–2 St Thomas
Blackheath 1–0 AFC Farnworth
Broadwood 1–0 Stonehouse Athletic
Gaelic Club 4–2 Glenmount Town
Garton Bay Pirates 6–3 Shieldhill
Montfort University 2–0 St Bart's Dutch
Saltburn Wanderers 0–1 Montfort Wanderers
Waterfleet 0–1 SC Montfort
Match of the Round:
The tale of the tape at the Coliseum showed one team who were coming in with everything to prove, and one with everything to lose. Glenmount, despite their performance in the Champions’ Shield, still have a massive comeback to take on after falling low last season. That task started for Chen Huikang’s side at the home of Gaelic Club in the East End, and things looked rough for Chen’s side early on, with Yueren winger Luo Nanwei swinging in a cross for Isaac Thielen to score his first goal of the season, before Ruaridh Grant doubled the advantage for the Gaels six minutes later. Town looked in trouble, but Valentina Gastaldo curled in a free kick after 32 minutes to cut the deficit, before Tim Bijvank headed home a corner from Anna MacDonald to confirm that the teams would go into the interval tied at two goals apiece. After the break though, the Gaels asserted their dominance. Leif Tannenbaum began to run things, setting up replacement forward Èibhlin MacLeay who put the Green-and-Gold back in the lead. The win was confirmed in the late stages of the game, as a Tannenbaum free kick clattered off the crossbar, with Grant pouncing to score a poacher’s goal.
Matchday 2:
AFC Farnworth 1–0 Gaelic Club
Glenmount Town 3–4 Abingdon Celtic
Montfort Wanderers 2–1 Montfort University
SC Montfort 1–2 St Bart's Dutch
Shieldhill 2–1 Blackheath
St Thomas 1–0 Saltburn Wanderers
Stonehouse Athletic 2–1 Garton Bay Pirates
Waterfleet 2–1 Broadwood
Match of the Round:
After Garton Bay put six past Shieldhill at the Anchor one week ago, a surprising amount of attention was with them as they travelled to Stonehouse, with many wondering if the Pirates could surprise us all and improve on their recent seasons. If a fan watched just the first five minutes, it may have looked like that would be the case. Caelan McIntyre, a hat trick hero against the Bucklers, had a goal disallowed after only two minutes, with the Pirates taking the lead soon after through Holly Howell: the young Tumbran already has three goals to her name in the LPL at the tender age of 18. After that though, Stonehouse responded and never looked like giving up control of the game. Jay Dickson marshalled the defence against the onslaught, and their centre half partner Albert Legget did a terrific job of marking McIntyre out of the game. At the other end, Silke van der Linden scored her first goal for the club on the cusp of half time, and while Stonehouse probably didn’t convert as many chances as they would have liked through van der Linden, Kennedy, and Graham, they did manage the win. A late Tom Johnston free kick found its way past Andy Young to give the Latics their first win of the season, and pull the Jolly Roger back down to earth.
Matchday 3:
Abingdon Celtic 1–0 AFC Farnworth
Blackheath 3–2 Stonehouse Athletic
Broadwood 0–0 SC Montfort
Gaelic Club 1–0 Shieldhill
Garton Bay Pirates 0–2 Waterfleet
Montfort University 0–1 St Thomas
Saltburn Wanderers 4–3 Glenmount Town
St Bart's Dutch 0–1 Montfort Wanderers
Match of the Round:
There were only two teams that came into the third week of the season having won their first two games, but no one was surprised to see St Thomas performing strongly. Montfort Wanderers, on the other hand, were not favoured by many going into this season. Nonetheless, they travelled to St Bart’s to face het Oranje with some pressure to push forward and continue their momentum. On the other side, Dutch came into this match having just got their first win of the season against the Wanderers’ biggest rivals, so were hoping to claim their second Montfort scalp in as many weekends. It was a close fought, cagey game, with both sides content to sit back a little, and chances being few and far between. Wanderers went closest in the first half, with Danita Star hitting the post with an effort from just inside the box, and just after the break Star managed to make up for the missed opportunity. A poorly-executed corner routine from Dutch left Star and Postel free to go on the counter, with the latter holding up the ball perfectly to let Star in behind the defence, and she chipped over Lisandra Stegehuis to give the Whites the lead. While St Bart’s were a little more attacking, they didn’t seem to have the right stuff to get past Leland Wood and the Montfort defence, meaning that the Whites could maintain their 100% record.
Matchday 4:
AFC Farnworth 1–1 Saltburn Wanderers
Broadwood 4–3 Garton Bay Pirates
Glenmount Town 3–0 Montfort University
SC Montfort 2–2 Montfort Wanderers
Shieldhill 1–3 Abingdon Celtic
St Thomas 2–1 St Bart's Dutch
Stonehouse Athletic 3–1 Gaelic Club
Waterfleet 1–2 Blackheath
Match of the Round:
Throughout the first few weeks of the season, St Thomas have been going about their business quietly but confidently, as Sienna Bruce’s side took one goal wins from each of their first three games. As they came to their first St Bart’s Parish derby match of the season, they were hoping to do the same against St Bart’s Dutch, who will have been cursing the schedulers as they faced the two most recent champions across two weeks. The Sky Blues looked dominant in the first half, with the defence stifling any chances that the Helligens created and making things easy for Sam Heijnis. At the other end, Lara Auðunsdóttir got on the end of a clever through ball from Dusko Ocokoljic to give St Thomas the lead after half an hour. After the break, the Saints doubled their lead with an early contender for goal of the season. Ocokoljic and Arthur Mazereeuw played some beautiful football to move the ball from the halfway line to the edge of the box, allowing Mazereeuw to curl a shot into the top right corner well out of reach of Stegehuis. Het Oranje only had a couple of opportunities through the entire game, and the only one they could capitalise on came through a set piece. Beau Morrison swung a corner towards the back post, where Owen Findlay was waiting to volley home to earn a consolation goal for St Bart’s, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Sky Blues coming away with another win.
Matchday 5:
Abingdon Celtic 2–2 Stonehouse Athletic
Blackheath 2–2 Broadwood
Gaelic Club 0–3 Waterfleet
Garton Bay Pirates 1–0 SC Montfort
Montfort University 0–1 AFC Farnworth
Montfort Wanderers 1–2 St Thomas
Saltburn Wanderers 1–0 Shieldhill
St Bart's Dutch 2–2 Glenmount Town
Match of the Round:
There’s always a surprise in the LPL, and this season Blackheath and Broadwood have both showed signs of continuing that tradition in the early stages of this season. Broadwood have over-performed given many early predictions placed them bottom of the league, while Blackheath have also far outdone their usual lower mid-table position with three wins in their first four. There was, therefore, a fair amount of interest in this fixture at the Village Green. Neither side disappointed the watching crowds, and you would expect that they wouldn’t be too disappointed with the end result either. Youngster Will Wood opened the scoring for the Stags, putting a long free kick from Daniel Godijn past Foresters keeper Fenne van den Heuvel. Blackheath would double their lead just before the break, with Wood this time playing set-up man for Sarah Campbell. After the break, Findlay Milligan’s side looked like a completely different outfit, with Broadwood suddenly looking the much better side. Their first reply came through Hinodejin winger Wu Zexi, whose cross from the left hand side caused enough trouble for Blackheath that Brooke Johnstone tapped it past her own keeper. The Foresters continued to keep up the pressure, and it was once again a mistake from Johnstone that allowed them to equalise in injury time. In attempting to head clear a corner she clattered the ball with her hand, giving up a penalty that was swiftly converted by Seth Jacobs to ensure that both sides would come away with a point.
Table after 5 weeks:
RenewTec Licentian Premier League Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 St Thomas 5 5 0 0 8 3 +5 15
2 Abingdon Celtic 5 3 1 1 11 8 +3 10
3 Blackheath 5 3 1 1 9 7 +2 10
4 Montfort Wanderers 5 3 1 1 7 5 +2 10
5 Waterfleet 5 3 0 2 8 4 +4 9
6 Broadwood 5 2 2 1 8 7 +1 8
7 Stonehouse Athletic 5 2 1 2 9 8 +1 7
8 Saltburn Wanderers 5 2 1 2 6 6 0 7
9 AFC Farnworth 5 2 1 2 3 3 0 7
10 Garton Bay Pirates 5 2 0 3 11 11 0 6
11 Gaelic Club 5 2 0 3 6 9 −3 6
12 SC Montfort 5 1 2 2 4 5 −1 5
13 Glenmount Town 5 1 1 3 13 14 −1 4
14 St Bart's Dutch 5 1 1 3 5 8 −3 4
15 Montfort University 5 1 0 4 3 7 −4 3
16 Shieldhill 5 1 0 4 6 12 −6 3
, St Thomas
, St Thomas
, Abingdon Celtic
, 63
for £560k, Isaac Thielen to TSV Marzig 
for £1m
on a free transfer, Tess Kuiper from Arranmuir for £200k, Conan Menzies from Saltburn Wanderers for £480k
for £1m
to Montfort Wanderers for £1m, Mark McLean retired, Mirryn McPherson to Shieldhill for £350k, Nick Reid to Ringmuir for £125k
, 52
for £400k, Harrison Murphy to Kota Jembal 
for £340k, Dino Nieborg to Broadwood for £200k
for £560k
for £850k
for an undisclosed fee, Freya Sinclair to Oldshore Rovers for £100k