A little bit of football history was made today when the Glasgow Cup was played for for the first time in the Women’s game with Celtic taking on theRangers at the Penny Cars stadium in Airdrie.
The Celtic squad has looked a little sparse this pre-season with five players leaving the club, only a few new arrivals and a couple of mysterious absentees which added to a feeling that today wouldn’t be Celtic’s day as the took on the SWPL1 Champions.
However having knocked theRangers out of both the League Cup and Scottish cup last season, before going on to win both trophies, Fran Alonso’s side was alway going to make a match of it, and that’s pretty much how things panned out.
New signings Lucy Ashworth-Clifford and Amy Gallacher both started as did Natalie Ross – returning from a long injury lay-off and Lisa Robertson, back after spending a season on loan at Birmingham City. Just 5 of the 11 starters from the Scottish Cup Final win over Glasgow City on 29 May were in the team today.
Before kick-off and after the team news was posted by the club, supporters were asking about the situation regarding Sarah Harkes, Jodie Bartle and Charlie Wellings? Add to that Jacynta to that too, although she was away on international duty with Australia so presumably has been given additional time off.
Shen almost gave Celtic the lead after 18 minutes after good work from Clarissa Larisey, both players maintaining their top form from the end of last season, particularly in that historic Scottish Cup final win.
But with half an hour played it was the visitors who found the back of the net when Kerr beat Johnstone to give theRangers the lead via a corner kick. Celtic fought back though and new Ghirl Gallacher whipped in a cross which Larisey flicked into the back of theRangers net to level the score. Tegan Bowie picked up a yellow card just ahead of the half-time whistle.
That Gallacher-Larisey combo almost put Celtic ahead two minutes into the second half, with the Canadian rounding the keeper but the angle was just a little too tight to find the back of the net. And with 54 minutes played theRangers capitalised on another corner kick to retake the lead and a few minutes later Natalie Ross, having got an hour into her legs, was replaced…by a Trialist.
Celtic huffed and puffed but it was nothing to worry about as far as theRangers defence were concerned.
It finished Celtic 1 theRangers 2 with the visitors collecting the Glasgow Cup.
Celtic are asking supporters to purchase season tickets to support the women’s team and the package on offer is attractive, to say the least. However with interest in the team comes the need for answers. The Glasgow Cup matches have essentially been pre-season training games ahead of the big SWPL kick-off on 7 August against Hibs. Celtic have a few weeks to get up to full strength and to hopefully strengthen the squad with a few additional quality signings.
Having won two trophies last season the natural progression would be to win the league this season. Is that looking likely at the moment? Without some positive answers to the questions Celtic seem keen to avoid answering that doesn’t seem too likely. Frustratingly so. However Fran Alonso, probably realising that the supporters need to know what is happening behind the scenes, spoke to Cynic Women after today’s defeat and confirmed that negotiations are ongoing regarding retaining some of the players missing today and also that there are three new players due in this week with possibly another few to follow ahead of the season opener.
Maybe we’ll be in a position to challenge for the league after all!
‘𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻…’
We spoke to Fran Alonso this afternoon after a defeat to Rangers about the squad for the upcoming season pic.twitter.com/tqwaL8JXET
— Cynic Women (@CynicWomen) July 24, 2022
