Malky out to break the Light Blues’ Cup duck as Hibees chase No. 8
Rangers head coach Malky Thomson hopes his side can celebrate a first-ever Cup win at Tynecastle this afternoon.
They will face a Hibs side who have won the League Cup a record seven times – but despite this Rangers will start favourites.
The competition has been rebranded the Sky Sports Cup following a near £4m, seven-year sponsorship deal with the broadcaster.
That means today’s final will be the first-ever Scottish women’s match shown on Sky Sports. Kick off is 12.30pm.
“It’s crazy in a sense,” Thomson admitted about Rangers never having lifted the women’s League Cup or Scottish Cup.
“It would be special to get that first Cup win.
“It’s great that it’s being played at Tynecastle
– what a great environment and pitch for the final.
“I hope we can get a good crowd, and as many people as possible to view it, and then it’s up to Hibs and Rangers to put on a good product on the park.”
The reason Rangers are favourites while still looking for a first Cup win is because the club only started investing seriously in their women’s team at the end of 2019.
The decision was made to move to a full-time squad, and to give themselves the best chance of instant success they signed seven of the best players from Scotland’s two top teams at the time – Glasgow City and Hibs.
The pandemic intervened to make the 2020 summer season null and void, but Rangers finished runners-up to City in the newlylaunched 2020-21 winter season.
They went one better in 2021-22, winning their firstever title, but lost to Celtic in both cup competitions.
Rangers will have five former Hibs players in today’s squad. One of them, goalkeeper Jenna Fife, made two saves in a penalty shoot-out against Glasgow City to win the League Cup in 2019.
That made it seven wins on the trot for Hibs in the two cup competitions – but they haven’t won any since and are now fourth-best in Scotland behind Rangers, City and Celtic.
That’s a hard one to take for skipper Joelle Murray (inset). Brought up in the Borders, she was taken to men’s matches at Easter Road by her dad and is a massive Hibs fan.
She joined the women’s youth set-up when she was only 12 and is still playing for Hibs 24 years later.
The central defender is one of only three starters from the 2019 League Cupwinning side still at the club.
Her defensive partner, Siobhan Hunter, is another and will play today, but Rachael Boyle is not ready to return after giving birth to a second child – she is married to men’s team forward, Martin.
“The 2019 final was a fantastic occasion for us as a club, and we just want to replicate that at Tynecastle,” Murray said.
“We have a proud history and tradition of being successful, especially in cup competitions, and we want to continue that on Sunday.”