The women of steel continued to ramp up their preparations ahead of the forthcoming domestic campaign, as they narrowly succumbed to hosts Livingston under the West Lothian sunshine at Almondvale on Sunday.
The hosts cruised to a two-goal advantage, before Mason Clark narrowed the deficit in the latter stages of the game. Motherwell pressurised the Livingston goal, but despite hitting the bar on numerous occasions, Motherwell couldn’t find the eventual equaliser.
The opener came after a quarter of an hour, with a floated corner kick sailing across the six-yard-box, and despite ricocheting through a number of jerseys, the final touch re-directed into the bottom-right corner.
Motherwell sought to respond, and almost found the leveller on the half-hour mark. Kodie Hay’s whipped delivery from the right-flank fell into the path of Jenna Penman in the box, but the defenders headed effort fell wide of the target.
Hay continued to threaten, with the forward’s chipped through ball finding Mason Clark, who adjusted her position before teeing up Lucy Ronald at the edge of the box, but the midfielders low strike failed to trouble the goalkeeper.
The hosts had the ball in the back of the net for a second time moments before the break. A quick counter-attack left the visitors scrambling to regain their shape. A perfectly-weighted through ball across the face of goal penetrated the Motherwell backline, before being coolly dispatched beyond Rebecca Cameron.
The celebrations were quickly brought to a conclusion, as the referee adjudicated the striker to have strayed offside.
Motherwell again came agonisingly close to restoring the scoreline shortly before the half-time break, with Hannah Cairns striking the crossbar from the edge of the box.
Closing out the first-half with a one-goal deficit, Motherwell had the first opportunity of the second-half. Mason Clark swiftly worked her way to the edge of the Livingston penalty area before dragging her shot wide of the near post.
One of the women of steel’s several matchday trialists came close to the equaliser minutes later. Using her pace to smartly escape the second to last defender, she soon found herself bearing down on goal, but the final recovering defender reacted promptly to make a smart interception.
Despite Motherwell’s countless opportunities in the final third, the hosts soon doubled their advantage. An exceptional strike from 30-yards out curled beyond the reach of Cameron before bursting the top-right corner of the Motherwell net.
Frustrated, Motherwell almost immediately responded. Shannon Leishman’s mis-hit delivery from the right by-line looped aggressively over the head of the Livingston goalkeeper before hitting the bar, and then the left post.
Substitute, Carla Boyce almost accepted a gift presented by the Lions defence in her first moment of the game. The home shot-stoppers mis-placed pass was promptly intercepted by Boyce on the six-yard line, but the goalkeeper reacted sharply to close down the angle and deny the experienced forward.
The chances on-goal continued to evade the women of steel, with Trialists free-kick from the edge of the box falling kindly to Boyce a few yards out, but the striker couldn’t generate any power on the snapshot, allowing the goalkeeper to easily gather.
Motherwell soon received a late consolation, with Mason Clark adding her name to the scoresheet. Clark’s solo driving run from the right-flank led the midfielder to the edge of the box, and Clark composed herself before drilling a left-footed strike into the bottom-right corner.
In the final minute of the game, Boyce almost earned the visitors a draw, with a whipped corner-kick sailing invitingly into the strikers path, but the forward could only strike the bar with her unorthodox standing overhead kick.
