Ross hungry for title and confident of reversing cup result

MIDFIELDER Natalie Ross is determined to go into the final SWPL match of the season with the title in Celtic’s hands

Elena Sadiku’s side take on title rivals Rangers at noon today at Broadwood Stadium only leading Jo Potter’s side on goal difference at the top of the table.

Rangers won the recent Scottish Gas Scottish Cup showdown between the two sides to reach the cup final, and Celtic dropped points in the title race against third-place Glasgow City in their recent 2-2 draw at the Excelsior Stadium.

But Ross is adamant that recent results will not play on Celtic’s minds this afternoon.

“For me, that game [cup semifinal] is done,” Ross said. “When we finished on Saturday, it was disappointing, of course, the way we lost it and the way we performed.

“But it’s done. We just focus on the next game and we need to beat Rangers. We will beat Rangers. We’re in a good position and I’m confident going into that game.

“We know that we need to win every game. We just focus game-by-game.

“Obviously, we wanted to win on Wednesday night [against City], but I think the performance we put in after the disappointment of Saturday was really important for us.

“We bounced back, we still have a good team spirit and we’re ready to go for Monday. The focus is the next game, Rangers.

“I think every game until the end of the season is going to be like a cup final. Every game is important, we can’t underestimate any team.

Four games left and we need to win every game.

“We focus on every game, and at the end if we win the league then great.

“We played really well on Wednesday night with a great team spirit, great attitude, we dominated the game.”

With the league split, Ross believes that with the quality of opposition facing both

Celtic and Rangers in their respective run-ins that there will be plenty of points in play between now and the end of the season.

“Rangers have dropped points to Hearts already, so you can’t underestimate any team,” Ross said.

“We know what it takes to beat these teams.

We’ve beaten these teams throughout the season. We’re in a strong position and the bounce back on Wednesday was incredible. A lot of people probably underestimated us, but we showed we can. The quality we’ve got on the pitch and on the bench is incredible. We’re really proud of our performance. “We want to have it in our hands going into the last game. Like I say, we just focus on each game and we know that if we win every game then it’s going to be in our hands.

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves to think of that game at Celtic Park. We just need to focus on Monday.”

There has been a marked upturn in Celtic’s fortunes since Sadiku, the former Sweden youth internationalist, took over from

Fran Alonso as manager in January. And despite missing the chance to win the Scottish Cup this season, Ross has seen the work going on behind the scenes and believes it is only a matter of time before that translates into silverware.

“You can see on the pitch, the improvements,” Ross said. “The intensity on and off the ball.

“Every training session she expects a lot from us. The players that come on the pitch are ready to perform and she’s put us in a great position to win the league title. “I think it’s just keeping that level head, especially in games when you can see people becoming a bit nervous and apprehensive coming towards the end of the season. It’s just being confident and supporting them as best you can. Every time they do something well you need to let them know. Everyone will make mistakes, but it’s how you react to those mistakes. I think we’ve got a really strong squad. “It’s given us hunger and belief that we can do it. A lot of people had a bit of doubt. If you look at the budgets, Rangers are way ahead of us and probably should be beating every team in the league. I think we’re competing all of the time. It’s fastpaced football. We like to keep the ball. I’m a technical player, so I like to play short passes; long passes as well to exploit the back line. “It’s exciting football, and that’s what we want the fans to see as well. We can see the crowds that are coming to watch us are enjoying it.” “I won the league years ago with Hibs, so I know what it takes. The players do really believe this year. We’re all hungry for it.”