Celtic Ladies Hit Forfar For Four

CELTIC LADIES continued their winning ways on Sunday with a comprehensive 4-0 League win over Forfar Farmington. Suzanne Malone struck twice and captain Becky Stokes also netted a brace on a heavy, energy-sapping surface at Strathmore Park.

Jennifer Beattie ruled herself out during the warm-up with back pain, and was replaced in the starting line-up by Louise Curley. However, Curley quickly aggravated a recurring ankle injury and had to be replaced by Jenny Quigg, forcing a complete reshuffle of the back four within 10 minutes.

But Suzanne Malone, who has been prolific for the Hoops of late, grabbed the opener on 15 minutes. Clare Gemmell played a delightful chipped pass which Malone knocked home at the front post.

Although Celtic enjoyed much of the possession in the first half, Forfar were organised at the back and broke quickly, but the makeshift Celtic back four dealt well with any pressure that came their way.

Despite the muddy surface starting to take its toll on some of the players, Suzanne Malone showed no signs of tiredness with her second of the afternoon.

On a surging run from deep she beat three defenders and showed impressive strength to hold off the final challenge to slot the ball under the on-rushing keeper.

With a comfortable margin and with Thursday's Scottish Cup semi-final in mind, John Holt was keen to introduce forward Christie Murray to the action, and she looked lively in her first 25 minutes of play since she picked up an injured six weeks ago.

Hayley Cunningham, who made her Scotland ‘A’ Squad debut during the week, worked tirelessly down the left side and delivered well but the third goal came from Stokes on the right.

A neat one-two on the angle of the box with Malone created the space for her to squeeze the ball under the keeper from 12 yards.

With no substitutes left on the bench due to a lengthy injury list, Celtic changed things up by swapping over wide midfielders Stokes and Cunningham.

The change paid dividends when Stokes stole in on a delicate chip over the defence from Gemmell and, with one touch lifted it over the keeper to finish the game.

Manager John Holt was glad of the win and performance as his side head into their season defining semi-final against Aberdeen this Thursday, April 17.

“Confidence is really high amongst the team just now but it was important that we concentrated on today and didn’t look too far ahead,” he said.

“I felt we gave a good account of ourselves as they had definitely improved since the last time we played them.

“In particular I was delighted with Christie Murray who came on and looked like she had never been away. Her attitude is great and with the semi-final coming up it is a real boost to have Christie back in contention.

“We are looking forward to Thursday now. North End Park is a fantastic surface which should help us play our football and I’m confident we will come good on the night.”

Celtic play Aberdeen this Thursday night, April 17 in the Unite Scottish Cup semi-final at North End Park in Dundee, KO 7.30pm. All support greatly appreciated.

Kayleigh Cameron

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Forfar were disappointed to ship two late goals against a lively Celtic who were made to work harder for their victory than the score line suggests. For the first hour Forfar had their fair share of possession but lacked penetration in the final third. Celtic with Suzanne Malone and Becky Stokes in fine form put Forfar's defence under pressure from the start and until the latter part of the game when the heavy pitch and the lack of games began to tell, they coped admirably. The team effort was commendable, the football entertaining and the performance against the "form" team in the Women's Premier did not on the whole disappoint though a lack of chances in front of goal continues to frustrate.   

Nicola Davidson in midfield had an excellent first half partnered tirelessly by the outstanding Joanna Collier who made her presence felt throughout the match.

Celtic's coach John Holt spoke afterwards of a much-improved Forfar from earlier in the season and a difficult team to break down. Hopefully some of the good football being played will produce concrete results in the coming weeks.