Celtic in driving seat after making their
Visitors take advantage with goal difference to set up historic triumph
THERE are still another three Scottish Women’s Professional League 1 games to be played this season and nine points remain up for grabs. So nobody at Celtic was uncorking the champagne and celebrating wildly following their 0-0 draw with Rangers at Broadwood yesterday.
Yet, the hard-fought result certainly puts the Parkhead club, who are level on points with their city rivals but have a vastly superior goal difference, in a commanding position entering the final fortnight of the 2023/24 campaign.
If Elene Sadiku’s girls can take maximum points from their final games against Partick Thistle at home, Hearts away and Hibernian at home they will be crowned Scottish champions for the first time on Sunday week.
A draw did not look likely in the opening 45 minutes of a match which, even though it was being screened live on television by Sky Sports, attracted a bumper crowd of several thousand spectators. Rangers were very much in the ascendency in the first half.
The Ibrox club had completed a memorable treble at the PFA Scotland Awards in Glasgow on Sunday night with Jo Potter, Rachel Rowe and Mia McAulay picking up the SWPL 1 Manager, Player and Young Player of the Year awards respectively.
That, though, is not the clean sweep of silverware which the Govan outfit are really interested in just now.
The SWPL Cup winners are through to the SWF Scottish Cup final and have the opportunity to lift every major honour this term.
They showed why when the game got underway by dominating the early exchanges as the visitors struggled to get out of their own half. Defender Eilidh Austin struck the crossbar with a powerful shot from fully 30 yards out and striker Kirsty Howat also forced a save from goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty with another long-range attempt.
However, it was Celtic who had the best scoring opportunity of the first half against the run of play after Murphy Agnew chipped over the heads of the Rangers defence and sent Natasha Flint through on goal. Her team-mate fired just wide of the right post.
That chance seemed to rouse Kelly Clark and Co to life. They started the second half far more brightly. Victoria Esson did well to hold a deflected Flint attempt and then tipped a goalbound Flint effort after the striker had been supplied in the opposition area by Lucy Ashworth-Clifford.
Potter made five substitutions in an attempt to get her side back into the game - Kathy Hill, Brogan Hay, Sarah Ewens, Rachel McLaughlan and Jane Ross came on as Austin, Rowe, Rio Hardy, Tessel Middag and Howat went off. McAulay struck the crossbar at the end of regulation time but the scoreline remained goalless.
The war of words between opposition managers Potter and Sadiku in the build-up to the encounter added a little bit of extra spice to proceedings.
The former had complained about the amount of time it had taken Celtic to do their pre-match huddle in their cup semi-final last month and claimed her girls had showed their superior fitness towards the end of that tie. The latter, not surprisingly, took a dim view of those remarks.
No quarter was given by either side
on the field once referee Stewart Luke got proceedings underway. But this was an Old Firm derby which was distinctly lacking in the bile and bitterness of its male equivalent.
Fans wearing blue mixed with supporters decked out in green and white in the stands without a hint of trouble. Together, they generated a party, not a toxic, atmosphere. No sectarian songs were given an airing.
Potter promised that Rangers, whose next outing is against defending champions Glasgow City away on Sunday afternoon, would keep on fighting to the end and would not give up hope. But there was an air of resignation in her voice as she spoke.
“We knew we needed three points more than they did,” she said. “The goal difference is essentially worth an extra point for them. But there are three games left and we can’t throw the towel in now. We would never do that anyway.
“The pressure is on them a wee bit now. It is a three game week at the end of the season which is tough if you have a limited squad. So we just need to make sure that we crack on and do our business.
“We need to keep doing what we are doing. We have a great team and a great squad. We need to find that little extra bit now to go again. We will give the opposition every respect, but we need to keep going.
“We also have a cup final to look forward at the end of the season which is a big high, but we really want to finish off with a high and get those points in the bag. We know if we play the way we need to do it doesn’t matter who we play. We have got to have that confidence.”
Potter was gratified to see the large turnout and felt the Rangers supporters who turned up helped her team to perform. “You see the difference the crowd can make,” she said. “The club has done great work to promote it and get bums on seats. We need these fans and these games deserve that.”