Wellings seals place in last four for Celtic

YET another vital goal by Celtic striker Charlie Wellings, this time against Rangers, took her side through to today’s League Cup semi-final draw. The English forward scored the only goal of the tie at the Rangers Training Centre after 59 minutes.

Holders Hibernian – the last League Cup was played in 2019 – Glasgow City and Spartans were the other quarter-final winners.

Celtic had the best chance of the first half, but the eventual match winner was denied by Rangers captain Brianna Westrup. The American cleared Wellings’ angled shot off the line after goalkeeper Jenna Fife and centre-half Chantelle Swaby collided trying to close the Celtic forward down.

Fife, who played the full 90 minutes for Scotland in Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Sweden, made a bad mistake to concede the goal. She looked to have Wellings’ low shot from 20 yards well covered, but the ball slipped through her gloves and into the net.

Rangers’ best attempt for an equaliser was thwarted by Celtic goalkeeper Chloe Logan when she tipped substitute Chelsea Cornet’s 30-yard shot over the bar at the last second.

“Ultimately it’s not good enough,” Westrup said. “We’re at home and these are the games we want to be winning.”

Hibs, who beat Glasgow City on penalties in the 2019 final to win the trophy for a fourth successive season, faced a difficult trip to Balmoral Stadium to play Aberdeen. Scotland midfielder Rachel Boyle opened the scoring against her former club after 17 minutes and added a second just after the half hour to give Hibs a 2-0 win.

Glasgow City beat Partick Thistle 5-0 at Petershill Park, with Lauren Davidson notching a hat-trick and Aoife Colvill adding two late goals.

Spartans beat the only SWPL 2 side in the quarterfinals, Dundee United, 3-0. Rosie McQuillan, Katie Frew and Katherine Smart got the goals.