Girls go for Goals in Castlemilk

words by Lynsay Keough

photographs by  Paddy McNeill

Castlemilk Girls Football Project had a glorious day for their first tournament at the Barlia Sports Complex, on Thursday 7 October.

The project is being run in conjunction with Glasgow Life, Active Schools and Glasgow City Ladies Football Club. Active Schools are leading a drive to encourage children in the city to exercise for 60 minutes every day.
The tournament involved girls aged 9 and 10 from schools in the local area: Carmunnock, Miller, St Bartholomews, John Paul 2 and Castleton primaries. Eddie Wolecki, the coach of Glasgow City F.C.  coached the girls in the four weeks leading up to the tournament and was pleased with the response to initiative.
‘It’s great to see enthusiasm from the girls at this age,’ he said. ‘They’ve been working hard. They’ve only been training for four weeks and have different levels of abilities.’
Castleton Primary were the victors.  But all the participants are looking forward to continuing their training at a Saturday girls’ football school being held at the Barlia, starting on Saturday 9 October and running until Saturday 13 November.

Glasgow City win again

Glasgow City stay top of the League

by Laura Montgomery

Glasgow City ladies football team continue to set the pace at the top of the Premier League, with two goals in each half to end up 4-0 winners over Hamilton Accies at Glasgow Green on Sunday 19 September.
A well worked short corner saw Emma Fernon deliver to the head of Rachel Corsie and she nodded down to centre half, Eilish McSorley to fire home City’s first goal from inside the box.
City almost went 2-0 up moments later when Emma Mitchell fired a fantastic right foot volley from the far right hand side of the box, inches over the Accies goal.
On 17 minutes,  Mitchell did however get on to the scoresheet, converting a penalty after City striker Kat Lindner had jinked her way around the Accies keeper Lee Alexander, only to be brought down by the Hamilton number 1, as she was about to shoot into the back of the net.
Alexander was soon to make amends, as she pulled off a number of good saves for the visitors throughout the match. In particular, she held on well to two shots from City’s Jane Ross, as the home side pushed for number three before the break.

Half time score 2-0.

In the second half, it continued to be virtually one way traffic as Accies tried to stem the flow of City attacks. They held out well, with Alexander again in top form, but the keeper was unable to do anything about a strike from Megan Sneddon which fired into the back of the net off the keeper’s left hand post.

Goal 4 for City came from substitute Ruesha Littlejohn and City almost made it 5-0 in the dying moments of the game. A one-two at the edge of the box involving Jane Ross and Lindner saw the German striker slide the ball into the path of McMurchie, but her powerful strike was miraculously tipped over the bar by Alexander.

Commenting on the match, Head Coach Eddie Wolecki said, ‘We controlled the match throughout, creating numerous chances and I am delighted with the 4-0 win. The girls have worked hard to keep another clean sheet and to maintain a good level of performance particular after we had a few disruptions in our normal training regime due to injuries and internationals.’

Women’s football final line-up

by Laura Montgomery

The Premier League teams in Women’s Football, line up for the last time on Sunday 20 June, before the enforced international and then a summer break.
Glasgow City and Celtic remain neck and neck at the top of the table as we approach the half way point, but both have tough fixtures on Sunday to get through first, to ensure they remain ahead of the chasing pack.

City have the early rise on Sunday morning for the long haul North to take on an Inverness side who have troubled a number of teams this season, most notably Hibernian and Rangers who both drew with the Highland outfit in May.
City Head Coach Eddie Wolecki knows his side will need to be focussed. He said: ‘Inverness have had a good run recently and managed to cause a few upsets. We need to prepare well for what will be a difficult game and make sure that the long drive North doesn’t affect the players too much. We will certainly have to be on top of our game to come back from Inverness with three points.’
City welcome back all their international players from recent A squad and Under 19 appearances, although a few are struggling with knocks picked up on international duty and may be rested against Inverness.

Celtic meanwhile have a large headache with start striker Suzanne Grant a doubt for their match at home to third placed Spartans. Grant had to be substituted last Saturday with a hamstring injury after only 20 minutes in Scotland’s 3-3 result with Switzerland and although the Scotland and Celtic staff have been working round the clock to get her fit, she remains a significant doubt for the Spartans match.
Rangers take on Forfar who sit three places but only two points behind them in the table.

Full round up:
Hamilton v Aberdeen: Jock Stein Sports Centre, Hamilton, 2pm
Forfar Farmington v Rangers: Strathmore Park, Forfar, 2pm
Inverness v Glasgow City: Bught Park, Inverness, 2pm
Celtic v Spartans: CFC Training Facility, Lennoxtown, 4pm
Hibernain v Spartans: Hibernian Training Centre, Tranent, 4pm.