Hibs and City start to pull away from rest of the pack

Glasgow City and Hibernian moved five points clear at the top of SBS SWPL1 with 3-0 wins over Celtic and Stirling University respectively.

Two goals for skip per le anne Ross and a third for Hayley Lauder saw City home against the side in third place at the K Park, and head coach Scott Booth said: “I was delighted with the team today.

“In the first half we battled for everything and in the second half we really got at them. We did really well against a good Celtic side who are battling hard at the top of the league.”

Celtic’s best chance came early in the game, but Scotland keeper Lee Alexander made a terrific point-blank save from Nicole Pullar. Ross fired the champions ahead with a free kick midway through the half and, having missed from the spot against Hibs the previous week, added a penalty four minutes after the interval.

A clever flick from Lauder made it three in 56 minutes and any chance of a Celtic come back ended when former City central defender Cheryl Mcculloch was sent off for a second yellow-card offence nine minutes later.

Hibs, who remain second on goal difference, won easily at Ainslie Park with goals from Shannon Mcgregor and Rachel Mclauchlan making it 2-0 at half-time. Lizzie Arnot notched the third from the penalty spot.

Rangers’ good run came to an end when they lost 4-2 at home to Forfar Farmington. It was 4-0 for the visitors at the end of 90 minutes, but Rangers scored twice in injury time.

Hamilton Accies got their first points of the season when they beat Spartans 2-0.