Scottish Women’s Premier League
The Old Firm are starting to open up a gap at the top following victories in Sunday’s matches.
Rangers made sure of retaining the leadership when they defeated Spartans 3-1. Brogan Hay gave them the lead midway through the first half and Michelle Colson made it two, seven minutes after the restart. A Rachel McLauchlan own goal reduced the arrears for Spartans but Megan Bell settled any nerves as she sealed the points with the third goal late on.
Celtic went into their match at Dundee Utd in the unusual position of coming off the back of a defeat in their previous outing but put themselves back on course in their title challenge with a 2-0 victory. Nour Addi opened the scoring during the first half and Tiree Burchill wrapped up the win twenty minutes from time, shortly after coming on as a substitute.
Glasgow City have a game in hand on the top two but lost ground when their clash with fourth placed Hearts ended in a goalless draw. Hearts dug in for a point and ended a run of 13 straight defeats against City in their previous meetings.
Hibernian meanwhile powered to an eight-goal victory away to Montrose, which takes them level on points with local rivals Hearts. Shannon McGregor scored the opening goal in the eleventh minute and Abbie Ferguson added a further two ahead of half time, with an Erin Ross own goal making it four at the interval. McGregor completed her double midway through the second half and after Eilidh Adams scored from the penalty spot, 18-year-old Ferguson scored twice more in the last five minutes for a personal tally of four goals.
A 3-0 victory over Hamilton Academical at Firhill has seen Partick Thistle catch up ground on the top four. Lucy Sinclair gave the Jags the lead shortly before half time and Cara Henderson made it two from the penalty spot on the hour mark. Emma Lawton rounded off the scoring with the final goal, five minutes from time.
Aberdeen are up into mid-table after running out 5-2 winners over Motherwell. Bayley Hutchison gave the Dons a first half lead which was cancelled out on the stroke of half time by Carla Boyce, but after Darcie Miller had put Aberdeen back in front early in the second half, Hutchison completed an excellent day for herself by hitting a second half hat-trick, for a four-goal haul in total, before Kayla Jardine grabbed a late consolation for ‘Well.
On Wednesday night, Dundee Utd leapfrogged Spartans in the table after coming from behind to beat them 2-1. Lauren Berman put Spartans ahead during the first half but after the break, Rachel Todd levelled the scores for United and Cassie Cowper completed the turnaround with an extra time winner.
It was a good day for SWPL 2 leaders Queen’s Park as they extended their lead at the top to five points by winning 3-2 at St Johnstone. Ellie Kane and Nicole Cairney put the Spiders two up inside eighteen minutes, with Ellie Cowie reducing the arrears on the stroke of half time. Elive McLean looked to have salvaged a point for St Johnstone when she equalised with four minutes remaining, but an injury time goal from Megan Quigley brought Queen’s Park an eighth win in nine matches. Second placed Kilmarnock lost ground when they down 2-1 to Boroughmuir Thistle at the Meadowbank Stadium. Deborah McLeod put Thistle in front early in the second half and after Dionne Brown had levelled for Killie, Abigail Varghese scored the decisive goal for Boroughmuir with eight minutes left. Livingston narrowed the gap on Kilmarnock to three points when they defeated Glasgow Women 3-1. Ashley Fish, Lucy Brown and Anna Dickov scored the goals to bring Livi a fifth win of the season, before Kayleigh Barghati netted a late consolation for the visitors from the penalty spot. Stirling University returned to winning ways with a 1-0 success at Gartcairn Women, who cannot get going. Athina Varnava scored the only goal of the game for Stirling, midway through the second half.
