Mariah Lee was still on cloud-9 after her glorious night in Paradise on Wednesday when she grabbed the winner against theRangers with ten minutes remaining to drag Celtic back into the the title race and perhaps more realistically a chance to secure one of the two Champions League spots.
With Celtic Park lying empty with John Kennedy’s Celtic team playing up at Pittodrie in the Scottish Premiership dead rubber then a decision was taken to move the SWPL1 crucial Glasgow Derby to Celtic Park. It seemed to work out perfectly with the result, the buzz playing in Paradise has clearly given the Celtic FC Women’s team and the additional exposure on BBC Alba (free as opposed to £12.99 to watch the underwhelming current Celtic side playing out a draw at Pittodrie) of a Women’s game played in the world famous surrounds of Celtic Park, on a beautiful grass pitch – rather than the much more humble surrounds of K-Park with it’s artificial surface.
If you are selling the Women’s Game what do you do next? You want to inspire young girls to take up football and dream of doing what Mariah Lee did on Wednesday night? Your next game is at home against Hibs (a very decent side by the way) and the men’s team don’t have a game…having exited the Scottish Cup last weekend…so bright idea! Let’s also play the home game against Hibs (which is also live on BBC Alba, who are delighted with the growth in their audience) at Celtic Park.
But it’s Celtic. The REAL reason that the game against theRangers was played at Celtic Park was because K-Park was double booked. And as the long standing Celtic booking for Sunday at the modest East Kilbride ground is still valid then that’s where Celtic will play Hibs – as Celtic Park stands empty.
“It was a huge win for us and it builds confidence,” Lee told the Media yesterday as reported by Celtic’s official website. Curiously the media outlet that has supported Celtic FC Women more than just about any other this season (ie the one you are reading) was excluded from the game on Wednesday night while other fan media sites and podcasts were invited along, despite these sites/podcasts have next to no track record in supporting Celtic FC Women. Our is a club like no other, right enough.We have asked Celtic for an explanation and we’ll report back IF the club responds but our first class coverage of Celtic FC Women will continue.
“Coming on and being able to play and score a big goal was amazing. It was a great feeling and I’m still soaking it up but hopefully, there’s more of that to come,” Lee continued. “Some people have talked about the title being between Glasgow City and (the)Rangers but we showed we’re in the thick of it so we shouldn’t be out of the conversation.
Hibs have suffered narrow defeats to both theRangers and Glasgow City in their last two games. On Wednesday night they were ahead against the league leaders but ended up losing 2-1, the winner came from the spot after a pretty soft penalty was awarded.
“I know there’s a rivalry between us and Hibs and we’ve been anticipating this game for a while,” Celtic’s American ‘Skelper said. “We’re excited to play this. They’ve had some close wins but they’re not a team to take lightly so we’re ready to have a good performance against them and get the win.
“We’re all used to playing, recovering quickly and going into the next game. We’re prepared to go out on Sunday and fight. I like having the games close together because we don’t have to wait around. I love playing in the games and it’s more fun when they’re closer together.”
#ICYMI: Mariah Lee 🗣️ “I know there’s a rivalry between us and Hibs and we’ve been anticipating this game for a while.”https://t.co/6RxZz7dBIO
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) April 24, 2021
