Accies number 9 Sarah Crilly lived the most romantic of football dreams today. Making your Scotland debut is generally one of the best moments of any footballing career, but Sarah's story is something a little more special.
Scotland, ranked 22 in the world, were playing a friendly against a Norway side ranked 13th. As a National Youth and U23 player Sarah knows the Scotland setup well, but today she was only meant to be keen spectator. However, injury worries and absentees meant that at halftime Scotland were reduced to only a handful of subs.
Kate Cooper, National Team Administrator received instruction from National Coach Anna Signeul and shouted at Sarah to come down and join the squad in the changing room. Sarah, always up for a challenge, grabbed the opportunity but forgot her boots! Thankfully her National Academy buddy Christie Murray loaned her a pair that were 2 sizes too big, but extra socks and an insole solved that problem.
When Celtics Rhonda Jones limped off after halftime, the shout went up for Sarah and she went on to make her debut. However, the drama wasn't over...
In the 78th minute Sarah received the ball and cut inside to finish from close range and make it 2–2 against the higher ranked Norwegians. Scotland are ranked 22 when at full strength and given Dieke, Little and Beattie were all missing, this shows a sign of the depth that Anna Signeul can all upon.
However today belonged totally to Sarah Crilly. Watching the game, then called down to go on the bench, then having to borrow boots, then actually getting game time and scoring the equaliser, is truly the stuff of football dreams.
Please click here to listen to our audio interviews with Sarah and SWPL Manager Kevin Murphy
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