By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE numbers didn’t look great for Cairnlea this season, but coach Jamie Monteith had a clear view of the upside.
Cairnlea only managed five wins and finished 10th in the Women’s Premier League in 2013.
However Monteith, who replaced Nick Koutroumanis as coach early in the year, believes his young squad showed plenty of promise despite their hampered pre-season preparation.
“They’re a very young squad with a few senior players, and they’ve got to look at it as a learning curve,” Monteith said.
“It was certainly disappointing in terms of the score lines.
“But if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture of what they actually have achieved, they could easily have just thrown in the towel and finished bottom of the league.
“But they didn’t. They battled away and did really well, so I’m really proud of them.”
Cairnlea found itself on the receiving end of numerous hidings throughout its arduous 2013 campaign.
However Monteith was keen to highlight his side’s final match of the year, a 4-2 loss to EAP, as exemplary of Cairnlea’s season as a whole.
“Sometimes the score line doesn’t necessarily reflect the game and the effort they put in,” Monteith said.
“We were 2-1 up and cruising and just because of their naivety in terms of their age and understanding of how to shut a game out, they ended up losing the game.
“But for me it wasn’t necessarily about the score.
“For me it’s about development of the young girls coming through and come next season, if they find themselves in that situation again, I don’t think they’re going to be losing the game, because they’ve learnt the hard way.”
Candace Sallama, Emily Thomas and Tijen Hussein were Cairnlea’s stand-out performers for the year.
