Northern Ireland international Joely Andrews scored her first goal for Hearts at the weekend as the Edinburgh outfit made it two wins out of two with a comfortable 5-0 victory at home to Spartans.
Also on the scoresheet was her international team-mate Lauren Wade who took her tally to three in just two outings since her move to Scotland from Reading last month.
Speaking to irishfa.com Andrews said: “It was a great feeling to score my first goal for the team and help us get three points today.
“It’s a good standard and definitely a step up playing full time,” added the former Glentoran player. “I’m pushed in training every day.
“It has been great having Wader and Kerry here as I’ve known both of them for so long, we know each other’s games well so we can link up on the pitch.
“Off the pitch, it’s made the transition really smooth and we’ve been able to help each other settle.”
Also in the SWPL Laura Rafferty’s first start for Rangers, who beat city rivals Partick Thistle 4-0, lasted just 13 minutes as she sustained an injury following a clash of heads with Thistle’s Courtney Stewart.
It was the beginning of the Women’s National League season in England and it was a great start for midfielder Brenna McPartlan who helped Burnley to a 9-0 opening day win over Hull City.
Following her move from Lewes, midfielder Caragh Hamilton made her debut for Nottingham Forest as they recorded a 3-0 victory at Stoke City with former international Natalie Johnson hitting a brace.
In the opening weekend of the Premiership, Jonny Evans came off the bench to play the final nine minutes for Manchester United in their single-goal victory over Fulham and Conor Bradley was also used as a substitute in Liverpool’s 2-0 success at newly promoted Ipswich Town.
In the Championship in England, Ciaron Brown scored in Oxford United’s 3-2 defeat at Coventry City. George Saville was part of the Millwall side that suffered their second successive reverse after going down 4-3 at Bristol City.
“There have been positive bits from that performance,” Saville told Millwall TV. “There has been some good football we are creating chances and scoring goals, maybe last year we weren’t doing that we were just grinding results out.”
In the Scottish League Cup, Ross McCausland scored his first of the new campaign with a deft flick over the goalkeeper as Rangers progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition following their 2-0 win over St Johnstone and former JD Academy graduate Francis Turley was an unused substitute for Celtic as they won 3-1 at home to Hibs.
It was quite a weekend for our youth players who have progressed through the JD Academy with ex-Linfield player Ceadach O’Neill scoring twice on his debut for Arsenal’s U18 side in their 3-2 win at West Ham United.
Sixteen-year-old Braiden Graham scored and provided an assist in his first appearance for Everton’s U18 team and a third former Blues player Scott Hamilton scored for Nottingham Forest’s youth team just five minutes after coming on as a substitute.
There were assists too for striker Sean Corry (Derby County U18’s) and Aodhan Doherty (Blackburn Rovers U21’s) while George Feeney made his debut for Spurs in the 6-4 win over Crystal Palace in the U18 Premier League.
Finally, Northern Ireland U19 striker Rio Oundie-Morgan marked his return from injury with a goal in Ipswich Town’s U21 Development victory over Burnley.
