SHELLEY Kerr said that last night’s 3-2 friendly win for Scotland over Jamaica in front of record 18,555 fans at Hampden was a moment she never thought would come. First minister Nicola Sturgeon, new Scotland manager Steve Clarke and Judy Murray were all in attendance for the final warm-up match before they travel to France to compete in the World Cup for the first time, each of them sending on their best wishes after the match. Spectacular goals from Erin Cuthbert, Caroline Weir and Sophie Howard allowed the Scots to travel to France with a spring in their step ahead of the group opener against England in Nice on Sunday June 9, but the attendance for the match – which outstripped the previous record of 4098 – was as big a post-match talking point as any.
“In my heart of hearts, I was hoping for 15,000,” said Kerr. “I said 10,000 so to get over 18 and a half , I am absolutely delighted. When I was a young kid growing up, girls didn’t play football. We had 200 players, now there are 12,000. As a nation we have managed to get 18,500 here. It is watershed moment. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime. It’s a credit to the players.
“There have been a lot of people behind getting so many people at the game tonight and it just shows what you can achieve with hard work and success,” she added. “I think the product on the pitch has been good, throughout the campaign we have played really exciting football and we did that again tonight.”
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“It is not a bad bench, is it?” she said of her celebrity supporters. “They are all inspiring people. They had a chat with the players. The first minister is the patron of the woman’s national team and she takes that role really seriously. I think this is the first match she has seen us win, so I am delighted about that, long may it continue. Judy Murray is an inspiration in terms of women’s sport, she spoke to the girls about how important it is to inspire little girls to take up physical activity. Steve is new in the job, he went out at his squad announcement so for the three of them to spend time speaking to the players is fantastic.”
Having said that, Kerr was adamant there was still room for improvement, not least in the sloppiness which led to Jamaica’s goals.
“The crowd got five goals tonight. I am disappointed with two of them but not the other three. For spells of there game, we played really, really well but there’s always a but. There is room for improvement. We need to eradicate some of the mistakes we made because when we go to the World Cup they will get punished. It’s something we need reflect on and improve on.”
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