City make history and qualify for Europe's last sixteen
Glasgow City achieved history today when they became the first Scottish team ever to qualify for the last sixteen of the UEFA Women’s Cup.
Going into their last game, City knew they needed to defeat Moldovan side FC Narta by a number of goals to ensure they could not be caught by Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar, who were facing the Serbian’s ZFK Masinac.
In the end, an impressive victory of 11-0 ensured that City qualified top of their group with a positive goal difference of five over the Dutch.
At half time, City were 8-0 up, guaranteeing that the match was well and truly won and with a good goal cushion going into the second half. The last 45 minutes however proved a little more frustrating when chance after chance went unfinished, but in the end, a further 3 goals ensured City comfortably qualified for the Second stage.
Goal scorers on the day were – Leanne Ross (3), Danielle Stewart (2), Emma Fernon (2), Katharina Lindner (1), Ruesha Littlejohn (1), Jane Ross (1) Jane Brown (1).
City Boss Peter Caulfield was ecstatic with his side’s achievement. He said, “We came here to achieve the unthinkable and we have managed to do it. We were bottom seeds in this group, so to achieve this milestone for Scottish Women’s football is fantastic. Every single player played some part in all three games, proving once again that this is a quality squad capable of achieving anything they put their mind to. Unbelievably, we suffered countless injuries out here and I never managed to field my strongest eleven, which highlights again just how good every single player at Glasgow City is. We cannot wait for the last sixteen and look forward to competing against some of the very best sides in Europe, and in FFC Frankfurt, arguably the best women’s club side in the world.”
City will be in a very strong group of four for the second qualifying stage and will face FFC Frankfurt (Germany), ROA IL (Norway) and Zvezda-2005 (Russia). The second stage will take place from 9-14 October 2008.
09.09.08
