Glasgow City are Champions again
Glasgow won their fourth Premier title in a row this afternoon – a Scottish record - after a tense battle with Celtic at their Lennoxtown training centre. Although there are still matches to be played, City now cannot be caught and were celebrating in the centre circle at full time.
City went on the attack right from the whistle with Kat Lindner crossing for an early chance for Suzanne Lappin. Jane Ross had the first real chance when she dispossessed Rebecca Bisland and raced in on goal only for her shot to glide just wide of the right hand post.
City did eventually make the breakthrough, with the first goal coming after 14 minutes when Lindner played in Jane Ross who let fly with a shot. Ross’s effort cannoned off the post but Rachel Corsie was on hand to stab home the rebound.
Celtic came more into the half as the game wore on and got their first effort on goal on the half hour when Suzanne Grant took the ball into the area but her turn and shot went wide. The came closer when Christie Murray found Jo Love in the area but Lappin dived in to block the shot and City went in 1-0 up at half time.
Celtic came out fighting right from the start of the second period and scored within a minute of the restart, when the ball came back out to Christie Murray and her shot took a wicked deflection off Leanne Ross to wrong foot Laura Williamson in the City goal. Lindner almost restored the lead when she was played into the area but Gemma Fay was able to block her chip shot. On 75 minutes City were back in the lead when Ruesha Littlejohn sent a ball through to Jane Ross. Fighting off two Celtic defenders Ross got her shot off but it was well saved by the diving Faye in the Celtic goals. The Celtic and Scotland number one could only parry the ball wide and Lindner lashed home under pressure.
City made it safe with about five minutes to go when an attack on the right found its way to Littlejohn just inside the box and she hit a great left foot volley into the roof of the net, to secure the Championship for City once more. As the game came to a finish, City almost made it 4-1 when Celtic midfielder Stacey Cook diverted a City cross towards her own goal, but Faye was able to pull off a great save to tip the header on to the bar and save her team mate’s blushes.
Retiring Glasgow City Captain Laura Montgomery said, “I am so proud of every single Glasgow City player today. This was a huge pressure match for the team today and we showed that not only do we have the ability to win titles, we also have the mentality to win titles. Four Championships in a row is a phenomenal achievement for any side, but if you look at the age of our back four alone today, you will see this club has many successful years ahead of it. It is great to be back in the UEFA Women’s Champions League once more and hopefully our performance of the last few years has put us straight into the knock out last 32, which I feel we deserve.”
Pictures by Glasgow City photographer Lorraine Hill. For a full picture report from the match, please visit the photos page on our website.
31.10.10
