Queen’s Park Ladies v Celtic Ladies - SWPL 7th. October 2007

Queen’s Park Ladies 3 ... Celtic Ladies 6

Celtic Ladies Hit Queen's Park For Six

Hayley Cunningham scored a sublime second-half hat-trick as Celtic Ladies fired six past Queen's Park at Glasgow Green at the weekend.

Clare Gemmell, Jo Love and Christie Murray joined the forward on the score sheet in a game that Celtic had to come from behind twice before eventually running out 6-3 winners.

Queen’s Park took a 2-0 advantage into the second half after some defensive errors from Celtic handed them two goals from their only two efforts in the first 45 minutes.

But a determined and ruthless performance after the break saw Celtic at their very best, playing flowing, high-tempo football and finishing brilliantly.

The value of Cunningham’s introduction as a half-time substitute was immeasurable as she completed a hat trick of top-drawer strikes in a 15-minute spell that brought the Hoops right back into the game.

Her first on 52 minutes was an effortless right-foot volley which flew into the top corner, followed by an in swinging corner on 60 minutes which evaded everyone and dropped in at the back post.

Against the run of play, Queen’s stunned the visitors by taking the lead again, but straight from the resulting kick-off, Celtic charged forward, finding Christie Murray in a wide position and her delivery was met clinically on the volley by Cunningham to complete her hat-trick.

At 3-3, with almost a half hour to play and with confidence streaming through the Celtic side, there looked like there could only be one winner.

Central midfield pair, Gemmell and Love, who controlled the game from start to finish, topped off an excellent performance with a goal each.

Gemmell’s goal was a stunning solo effort on the 72nd minute mark, which put the Hoops ahead for the first time in the game.

Picking the ball up on the halfway line, she drove at the Queen’s defence before cutting inside and lashing home a right foot strike from 25 yards.

Jo Love took her goal tally for the season to three after taking Emerson’s cross on the chest, jinking inside and driving home from 10 yards, but she couldn’t add another from the penalty spot late in the game.

And Christie Murray’s got her just reward for an industrious performance with a back post header that put the game beyond doubt.

After the game, manager John Holt told the View: “I’m delighted with the performance. We’ve worked hard on crossing and finishing over the past weeks and it paid dividends.

“Once our first couple of goals went in you could see the confidence throughout the team and we went on to score some brilliant goals.

“Christie Murray was the stand-out for me today. She has matured well over the last few games and works incredibly hard.

“Jo Love and Clare Gemmell were also different class, they seemed to gel together today which is excellent for us.

“Now we’ve set the standard and have to keep achieving that level of performance.”

Kayleigh Cameron