City show six appeal with impressive victory
It was business as usual today at Glasgow Green, in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, when Glasgow City crushed Hibernian 6-0, to move three points clear at the top of the table with just two weeks of the season remaining.
Stunned by their midweek defeat to the same opponents in the semi-final of the Unite Scottish cup, the team had much to prove as they felt they came up short in their own performance on Wednesday night, in which Hibernian’s fighting display saw them come back from a goal down at half time to record a 2-1 success.
Today was a different matter, however, when within the first minute of the match the home team had the ball in the net. Katharina Lindner was the scorer when she smashed home at the back post after a great run and cross from Jane Ross was met by Ruesha Littlejohn, who’s powerful header at goal which could only be parried out by Shannon Lynn in the Hibs goal.
It took another twenty minutes for the second to arrive but it was far from a surprise as City had been peppering the Hibs goal consistently with shots which Lynn had been thwarting to this point.
When the goal arrived, it was Lindner who notched her second of the game, after Sue Lappin sent a header across the face of the goal and Lindner was first to react in the crowded box.
Half Time 2-0
The second half was more of the same from City who increased their lead on 51 minutes. This time it was Ruesha Littlejohn who got the goal with a fantastic glancing header across Lynn and into the bottom corner of the net following an inch perfect cross from Emma Fernon.
Eight minutes later and Littlejohn doubled her tally for the day with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box. Kat Lindner turned the full back inside out before driving into the box and cutting back for the strike.
It was becoming very much one-way traffic at this point with Hibs trying their best to stem the tide and hit on the break whenever they could.
The fifth goal came from Rachel Corsie who had remained up the park following a corner and when a ball found Sue Lappin in the box she squared for the centre back to slot home with ease.
With six minutes left the scoring was complete after Emma McCulley upended Ruesha Littlejohn in the box following a great piece of skill from the City forward had beaten the Hibs defender all ends up. Up stepped Leanne Ross to fire home the resultant penalty for her 52nd goal of this campaign and round off a great day for the home team.
Manager Peter Caulfield was full of praise for the team after the game and said, “Everyone felt we had let ourselves down on Wednesday, in the semi-final, when we didn’t perform to the level we expect at this club but credit must go to the players today who were determined to prove the midweek result was a one-off.
“We were extremely focused for today’s game and had a real desire to put things right and show our title credentials once again. We were quick to move the ball and set a very high tempo for the match right from kick off. There was a real incisiveness about our play today and we saw the real quality of Glasgow City in this match.
Pictures by Glasgow City Club Photographer Lorraine Hill. For a full picture report from the match, please visit our photos page.
24.10.10
