City keep title hopes on track

Glasgow City maintained their two point advantage at the top of the Premier League today with a 1-0 away win over Celtic at Lennoxtown.

The result now leaves Celtic’s title hopes almost completely dashed, making it once again a two horse race between City and second placed Hibernian for the Premier League crown.

City who were easily outfought the last time these two sides met, were far more focussed for this encounter and it was an entertaining match for 90 minutes. City were however, forced to re-think their game plan less than 30 minutes into the match when striker Katharina Lindner was forced to go off with what looked at the time a serious injury after a collision with a Celtic defender.

Defender Jill Patterson came on in Lindner’s place and remained up front to add a different dimension to City’s attack.

With two minutes to go before the end of the first half, City striker Jane Ross was scythed down in the box by Celtic centre half Jenny Beattie who earned a yellow card and a penalty was awarded to City. As usual, up stepped Captain Laura Montgomery, but she tested the nerves of her team by blasting the ball over the bar, much to the relief of the home side. Half time 0-0.

In the second half, Glasgow City dominated play with Jane Ross in particular causing Celtic’s left back an uncomfortable 45 minutes. City should have taken the lead when forward Ruesha Littlejohn found herself with space in the box after a clever back heel from Suzanne Lappin, but she fired her effort straight at keeper, Claire Johnstone in the Celtic goal. City’s pressure did eventually pay off when a goal mouth tussle in the Celtic box caused Celtic defender Suzy Robertson to handle the ball and City were given another penalty.

This time, Leeanne Campbell made no mistake for Glasgow City.

Celtic made a number of changes in the closing 20 minutes of the match, but never looked liked seriously testing a sound City defence.

In the end it was a deserved win for Glasgow City and one which very much keeps their title hopes firmly on track.

Caulfield Hails Team Performance

A few days after his side’s victory over Celtic, City manager Peter Caulfield, took time to reflect on the game.

He said, “I felt we seriously underperformed in the defeat by Celtic in the Scottish Cup 2 weeks ago. We had a lot to prove on Sunday. We knew Celtic would be on a high after their Cup win and it was their home game. We had to show that we could bounce back immediately.”

As he predicted pre-match, the early part of the game was played at a frenetic pace and saw both sides share possession but rarely threaten the goal. The passing by both sides was quick and incisive but as Caulfield said, “We were relinquishing possession far too quickly in the first half by trying to hit our strikers early and allowing Celtic to step in and win the ball back. This meant we struggled to play our more natural passing game and had to work extremely hard off the ball. However, throughout this period we limited Celtic to only one real effort, from 30 yards, which Laura Williamson, in goal, done exceptionally well to turn over the bar.”

“I demanded more composure from my players at half time”, continued the City boss. “It seemed to work as the flow of the game changed with the resumption of the second half and we passed the ball much better and retained possession. We started winning more of the second balls, which in turn led to us playing the majority of the match in the Celtic half. Although a few chances were made with great penetrating passes and strong wide play, we couldn’t manage to find the net but I always felt we were going to make the breakthrough and that happened with the award of a second penalty which full back Leeanne Campbell stepped up to fire home.”

“Although not creating a great deal more in terms of goal scoring opportunities I was delighted with the commitment of all the players and felt we were deserved winners of the match. The players knew the importance of the win to stay top of the table and proved they have got the desire and focus as well as the ability to win this league.”

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Celtic Ladies Pay The Penalty

CELTIC Ladies were sunk by a dubious second-half penalty at Lennoxtown on Sunday to lose 1-0 against Glasgow City.

Last week’s league victory had brought the Hoops within six points of the leaders and, with a win over their city rivals potentially cutting that deficit in half again, the match was set up to be a classic.

Almost inevitably it flattered to deceive and was further dampened by the sporadic wintry blizzards throughout the afternoon.

Leanne Crichton started at right back in the only change to the side that put four past City in the Scottish Cup a fortnight ago.

Despite the conditions, John Holt’s side started brightly and quickly worked in behind the visitors, but time and again the final ball was harmless.

Little came of the two corners they managed to force in the first 10 minutes as City were up to the task, dealing well with the aerial presence of Jenny Beattie.

On 26 minutes, Clare Gemmell forced a save with a 20-yard drive while Hayley Cunningham came close with a right-foot effort that scraped past the post.

As a result, a half-hour period of domination bore no goals for Celtic and the visitors worked their way back into the game.

Into injury time of the first period, Jenny Beattie was penalised for a heavy challenge on City forward Ross but with Montgomery blasting over from the penalty spot, the game remained finely balanced at the break.

Celtic failed to get going after the restart and despite her best efforts forward Christie Murray had little more than scraps to feed on for the remainder of the game. Other than an appeal for a handball in the box the Hoops fans had very little to shout about.

With 20 minutes to go City were awarded a second spot kick. This time Suzanne Robertson and her opponent crumbled to the floor while scrambling for the ball. To Celtic’s disbelief the referee pointed to the spot again.

City duly converted and held out to stretch their lead once more at the top of the league.

Speaking after the game, manager John Holt was clearly disappointed that his side took nothing from the game.

“I think we played better football in the first half than we did in the 4-2 game, but we just couldn’t score,” he said.

“But in the second half we didn’t perform. We were out of sorts all over the field and a slack attitude probably lost us the game in the end.

“With the second-half performance I would have taken the draw, but I don’t think we deserved to get beat. To me it was never a penalty, but nevertheless we look forward to Dundee United away in the Scottish Cup next week.”

Dundee United are going strong in the First Division and have already disposed of Premier side Edinburgh City on their Scottish Cup run.

However, Celtic will need no motivation going into this tie however, as the tournament presents a great chance of winning silverware this season.

Kayleigh Cameron

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19th. February 2008

City travel to take on Celtic

This Sunday, Glasgow City will make the short trip to Celtic FC’s state of the art facility at Lennoxtown to take on Celtic Ladies.

With City sitting top of the Premier League and Celtic in third, the match is shaping up to have a strong influence on the outcome of the Championship this season.

Celtic Manager John Holt, is well aware of the task facing his side.

He said, “This will be a very difficult game for us. It will be a good experience for the girls to play at Lennoxtown, but the match couldn’t be tougher. Glasgow City are a good side and could play a lot better than they did the last time against us.”

Holt was referring to Celtic’s first win over their Glasgow rivals two weeks ago in the Scottish Cup, when his side outfought a City team lacking their usual tenacity. The Cup win was huge for his side, who have been improving steadily all season and currently sit third in the Premier League table.

Three points for Celtic are arguably the only chance the Hoops will have of seriously contesting the title, with the top two, City and Hibernian, not expected to drop too many points in the remaining eight games after Sunday’s fixtures.

Glasgow City will of course take a decent sized step towards the Premier League trophy with a win over Celtic, edging closer to the highly coveted award of a place in Europe, which bestows the championship winning side.

City Boss Peter Caulfield, is sure his team will be ready.

He said, “This is a tough match for us. We were defeated by Celtic in our last game two weeks ago in the Scottish Cup and they were the better side on the day and deserved to progress to the next round. For our team, it was one of our poorest performances in a long time as no-one seemed to be up to their usual standards. We need to be at our best on Sunday and I am sure we will be. Our focus is the League and we want to remain top from now until the end of the season.”