CELTIC Ladies stormed to an 8-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Lennoxtown on Sunday and stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League on the day that title challengers Spartans and Glasgow City shared the points in their encounter.

Unsurprisingly, the Hoops lined up unchanged from the side that defeated Boroughmuir Thistle 8-1 the previous week and they went one better this time, scoring eight without reply. The goals were spread right throughout the team, some were the result of some scintillating play, and there was even a hat-trick for dynamic midfielder, Lauren MacMillan.

For the second week in succession, Jo Love broke the deadlock for the home side inside the opening minutes of the match. She converted with a neat cushion and volley past the helpless Khym Ramsay to set the Hoops on their way. MacMillan doubled the home side’s lead with her first of the afternoon, when Christie Murray struck the woodwork and she latched on to the rebound to bundle the ball home inside 20 minutes and captain, Becky Stokes, finished off a superb Celtic counter-attack to round off the first half. With seven passes, the Hoops moved the ball from defence to attack and Stokes slid in at the back post to slam home from MacMillan’s cross.

Celtic were in no mood to ease up and made it 4-0 shortly after the break. Pauline Hamill kept her composure and finished well with her supposedly weaker right foot, after some excellent build-up play by Karen Penglase. And the fifth was another fantastic team goal, finished off with a stunning strike by Murray from just inside the Killie box. MacMillan then completed her first hat-trick for the Hoops with two goals from the top drawer to add to her earlier effort. She swung the ball in from the left flank and it sailed straight into the far corner. It looked suspiciously like a cross, but there was no doubt about her next goal. As if to prove it was deliberate, she tried the same again minutes later and remarkably caught the Killie defence out again. 

Sub Donna James was the provider of the final goal of the game, when she sent over an inch-perfect corner on to the head of Jenny Beattie. And the centre-back powered an unstoppable header past Ramsay to complete the rout.

Robert Docherty said: “It was a wonderful performance once again. We were given the good news before the game that City and Spartans had drawn 1-1 and we let the players know that, which I think added another edge to our game. However, our play in recent weeks has been absolutely outstanding, right throughout the team and it was very pleasing once again that we scored a lot of goals. Our overall play was first class, the tempo and quality and we played with a real purpose. We’re absolutely delighted, we’re top of the league, we deserve to be there and we plan to maintain that until the end of the season.”

Mandy Mair