Celtic FC Women’s assistant manager David Haley stepped into the shoes of an absent Fran Alonso yesterday, as The Celtic Star were the sole attendees at yesterday’s pre-match press conference ahead of this weekend’s fixture with Motherwell in SWPL1.
Alonso of course received a post-match red card from a referee who appeared to infuriate Celtic with some bizarre decision making in Celtic’s 2-1 defeat to Glasgow City last weekend, a result that put paid to Celtic’s chances of qualifying for Champions League football next season and left the Hoops in league limbo with no chance of finishing second and little chance of being caught for a third-place finish.
Celtic may well find themselves in an unsatisfactory position in SWPL1, however, with a League Cup already bagged and a Scottish Cup still to play for, a successful season still awaits, for a team who have proven they are a match for any team in Scotland in one off games, but require real investment from the club themselves if they are to sustain a league challenge over the course of a season.
The Celtic Star Editor, who attended yesterday’s press conference and ended up having to ask all of the questions himself (where was everyone else from the invited media and Celtic fan media?), started off by asking about the question on everyone’s lips from last weekend – that refereeing performance and the unusual number of bookings handed out, something Celtic’s assistant boss immediately responded to with humour at his Head Coach’s expense.
“Is that just from the coaching staff?
“It was a feisty game and some of them (the decisions) that could perhaps have been questioned. It was difficult, there were perhaps lots of thing that maybe didn’t go our way. Some of them were due to the referee and some of them due to injuries as well. Sometimes that’s football.”
Celtic may well have lost last weekend but the team should be proud of an excellent performance in incredibly trying circumstances, after losing their goalkeeper Anna Vincenti, captain Kelly Cark had to take over in goal with both Rachael Johnstone and Chloe Logan already unavailable due to injury, then a refereeing performance that left a lot to be desired.
“I think in the second half in particular, we’ve pretty much dominated territory, and dominated large periods of the play, we’ve created the best chances and I don’t think anyone could have argued if we’d walked away with something.
“We changed a couple of things at half-time and moved a couple of players forward, despite having Kelly in goals, we still wanted to ensure we were attacking in the appropriate manner and we were pretty unlucky not to get something from the game.”
The goalkeeping issue could well have been a headache, with David Haley admitting Anna Vincenti’s knee injury remains a concern. However, it appears Kelly Clark will be able to focus on outfield responsibilities as the Celtic assistant boss admits to a goalkeeping solution being ‘in progress’ and not a concern for the weekend clash with Motherwell.
Of course, thoughts of silverware still remain at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and although the league may be out of reach, a Scottish Cup to add to a League trophy already won remains a realistic opportunity against an Aberdeen team who Celtic have already defeated three times this season. And it’s a proposition David Haley is certainly looking forward to, particularly on the back of a recent win at the Balmoral Stadium.
“Despite only scoring three goals I think we were absolutely dominant in the game, so if we can do something similar in the cup game coming up then we’ll be very happy to be in the semi-final. Hopefully we can do that and try and get to another final, and we’ve seen how successful we’ve been in finals before.”
Celtic’s game with Motherwell kicks off on Sunday at 2pm at the Penny Cars Stadium in Airdrie as the Hoops look to shake off the disappointment of last weekend’s defeat to Glasgow City and rebuild confidence ahead of a push for a domestic Cup double.
You can buy tickets for the match HERE, and you may well be sharing a seat in the stand with a suspended Fran Alonso, who looked forward to the Motherwell game asking his players to ignore ‘Well’s recent poor run of form and ensure Celtic have their eyes firmly set on three points on Sunday.
“Motherwell have had two heavy defeats in a row but they have come after a very good run of games. Normally when you have a bad run, at some point it finishes and you bounce back, so we need to make sure it isn’t against us.”
COYG*IG…
*PS that’s Ghirls with an H and it is a term that Celtic FC also use. Glad to get that one sorted.
Niall J
