City Girls bow out of Cup
Glasgow City Girls suffered their first defeat of the season today as they lost 4-2 to Rangers in the Quarter Finals of the Unite Scottish Cup.
City started the match slowly and looked every bit the younger, more inexperienced side that they are compared to First Division leaders Rangers. Their Glasgow rivals were stronger and more aggressive and far more dominant in the air than the new City side in the opening period.
Midway into the first half, City however found their game and began to dominate proceedings. Their superiority eventually paid off when striker Lisa Evans scored to give the home side the lead, converting a cross from Mel Stirling. City continued to press and create chances but were unable to increase their advantage in the first half.
Half time 1-0
Within the opening few minutes of the second period Rangers equalised. City failed to press in midfield and a long ball into space saw City keeper Lee Alexander race out of her goal to thwart the danger only to see the Rangers forward get there first and lift the ball into the empty net.
To make matters worse for City Girls, influential Scotland Under 19 international centre-half Eilish McSorley was forced to go off injured, enforcing a re-shuffle of the City rear guard.
Midway through the second half Rangers took the lead and moments later were two in front after City full back Atlanta Gray cleared right to the Rangers striker who took one touch to control before finishing a well placed shot in the bottom corner of the City net.
With 15 minutes left to play, City got a goal back, through a great individual effort from midfielder Emma Mitchell. Capping of a fine display on the day, Mitchell took on two Rangers defenders before coolly slotting past the keeper to give City hope of a comeback.
However, City’s buoyancy was short lived. As they pushed for an equaliser, Rangers hit the killer blow, with a fantastic effort from outside the box which left City keeper Alexander helpless.
City Boss Richie Evans was disappointed. He said, “I felt mentally we lost this match today. We had some bad news this week with the injury of one of our top players Lauren McMurchie and we had a number of our influential players struggling, most notably Eilish who was forced to go off at the start of the second half. I think psychologically we learned a lesson today. Rangers dominated us at the start and made us look the inexperienced young side that we are. Our girls are mostly aged between 15 and 17 years old and mental strength is hard to teach at that age. Our chance came in the second part of the first half when we really dominated and took the lead and we should have added to this and killed the game. Unfortunately we never and when they scored their second and third goal within minutes of each other I knew we would struggle. It is disappointing, but the girls have been incredible this season. For their first ever time in senior football, they have won the League Cup and every match in their league so far, so to also make it to the last eight of the Scottish Cup, is more than I could ever have hoped for at the start of the season.”
22.03.09
