AFTER a 28 hour journey as the plane destined to take us to Holland was cancelled and we were then taken on a taxi ride to Liverpool for an overnight stay, I am delighted to say that eventually I was part of one of the biggest parties ever witnessed by supporters of women football in Scotland.

I was in The Netherlands along with a huge contingent of fans, which included young players and coaches from Gartcairn FC who were also disrupted by the cancelled flight and became a bit of an internet sensation, for the first game in Group C of the Uefa Women’s Euros 2017.

The game itself was played at Galgenwaard Stadium in beautiful surroundings of Utrecht which is the fourth largest city in The Netherlands and just a short train journey from the capital, Amsterdam.

It was always going to be a difficult ask against the Auld Enemy particularly with at least three of the squad’s strongest players out through injury, and with a score line of 6-0 to England certainly cemented that view.

This game has also left Jane Ross as a doubt for the next two games as she picked up an injury on the night.

No matter the result on the night, qualification itself to a major championship was a long time coming, in fact I believe it has taken 14 attempts for the team to be represented at a final and it was clear, no matter what, that the fans were going to make the most of the occasion.

Nicola Sturgeon, who is an ambassador for the team, was also there and celebrated her birthday along with the travelling support.

Not slow to look for an occasion to party, we Scots made sure our presence was known in and outside the stadium.

Basically it was a meeting of old friends, many who have been following the team for many, many years and had taken the opportunity to come over to Holland to show their support.

The fan zone was a great hit with supporters of both teams with a sing off between the Scots’ ‘500 miles’ from The Proclaimers and ‘Always look on the bright side of life’, The Monty Python song of hope and it is fair to say the Scots won that match!

With fans from both sides sitting side by side, what a lovely atmosphere was created.

There was every type of supporter there and each one more colourful and tartan clad than the last.

One of the great things was the amount of families, young girls and boys with their parents enjoying a game of football with a strong friendly rivalry, yet no unsavoury scenes, and this allowed and welcomed young children to be part of the occasion.

There are two other games left to play, Portugal on the July 23 followed by Spain on July 27.

Unfortunately I can’t be there to support them, but it’s great to know that I can sit at home and follow all the action live on C4 as they have taken the unprecedented step of covering of all the games.

Let’s hope this is the start of a new trend and that the mainstream media continue to increase their coverage of the domestic game.

THERE was more success this week for Scottish athletes with Samantha Kinghorn, wheelchair racer, picking up a gold and a bronze at the Paralympics the former being a winning time of 28.61 seconds which was good enough for another world record, followed by Maria Lyle bagging two bronze medals.

However we missed both Jo Butterfield and Libby Clegg and hope they will be back competing soon. Scottish athletics are definitely in the ascendency, as we read nearly every day about another success story. Wonder what their secret is!

NOT doing too badly themselves, Netball Scotland’s U21 team came in a respectable 8th in the Netball Youth World Championships in Botswana. This is another amazing achievement and testament to the hard work of all the back room staff who go beyond and above the call of duty.

Overall I would say a good week for Scottish women in sport and some good news to shout about, so why don’t we do just that.