Women’s football kicks off for the season

‘We are back in business – the 2012 season has begun,’ says Laura Montgomery reporting on the Glasgow Premier League of women’s football.

Glasgow City got the new 2012 season off with a bang with a resounding 10-0 victory over Kilmarnock in Ayrshire in the first round of the Premier League Cup.

With a number of players out with a virus and nine City players involved in recent international action, Head Coach Eddie Wolecki Black had fewer than usual to choose from. As always, the players who did take to the field, did not let City down.

Killie nearly pulled off an instant shock when City’s Lee Alexander was forced to pull off a good save at the feet of the Killie striker to keep her side level after five minutes. That was Killie’s only real chance of the match. City went on to dominate play and possession for the rest of the game.

New signing, Julie Melrose got her own City account off to a great start with a goal on 14 minutes reacting first to a saved Leanne Ross shot, to fire into the back of the net.

Minutes later, City doubled their account when the busy Jo Love scored from a Jane Ross cross. Love then doubled her tally scoring her side’s third goal on 24 minutes after she was put through by Leanne Ross.

On the half hour mark, Jane Ross got her tally underway and three minutes before half time, full back Ciara Barnes linked brilliantly with Jo Love to score a fine team goal. A minute before the break and Melrose found the back of the net again, this time converting a Jane Ross cross from the by-line. The half time score was 0-6

In the second half, City kept the pressure on the home side. Shortly after the whistle got the game underway again, Jane Ross scored a great strike from outside the box. The Scotland and City striker was soon on target again, this time making space for herself inside the box before shooting past the helpless Killie keeper.

Substitute Eilish McSorley scored with a good header from a City corner on 75 minutes and with ten minutes remaining, Leanne Ross tucked another one away to make it 10-0 to the Scottish Champions.

Head Coach Eddie Wolecki Black said, ‘I am delighted we are through to the next round which is always the main objective. We were on a really heavy pitch today, so I was pleased with how well we moved the ball around. And we scored some really good goals. The fact that we were down to 12 fit players out of our squad of 20 perhaps says it all. But it shows the strength and quality of our squad that the girls who played today, did a really good job. Credit must go to Kilmarnock who never gave up. I felt they worked their socks off for 90 minutes and never made it easy for us.’

 

Full results round up:

First Round Scottish Premier League Cup:

Kilmarnock 0 v 10 Glasgow City: City – Jane Ross (3), Julie Melrose (2), Jo Love (2), Ciara Barnes (1), Leanne Ross (1), Eilish McSorley (1)

Celtic 1 v 0 Hibernian: Celtic – Heather Richards (1).

Rangers 8 v 1 Falkirk: Rangers – Jen Callaghan (4), Alana Marshall (1), Cheryl Gallacher (1), Kirsty McLaughlin (1). Falkirk – Sarah Quilitti (OG), Sinead Goi McLean (1).

Hutchison Vale 1 v 3 Aberdeen: Hutchie – Laura Dunn (1). Aberdeen (tbc)

 

For more details see:

www.glasgowcityladiesfc.co.uk

Twitter: @GlasgowCityFC

Facebook: Glasgowcity Fc

Dodge Ball gets moving

ASAP sports charity will start its Dodgeball series on Monday 31 October in the following locations: John Paul Academy, Summerston; Clydebank High School; Craighead Community Centre, Milton of Campsie; Easterhouse Youth Centre; Eastwood High School, Newton Mearns and James Hamilton Academy, Kilmarnock. A fundraiser for the Dogeball series will be on Wednesday 26 October in Craighead Community Centre in the form of a 5-a-side-football tournament.

Currently, the After School Activities Programme (ASAP) is looking for volunteers in Maryhill, Clydebank, Eastwood, Easterhouse and Craighead. Have a look at the website: www.asapscotland.org for details.

 

Run – for kids’ sake!

TV personalities Debi Edwards and Raman Bhardwaj have joined thousands of others and signed up for the Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run on Sunday 4 September with the youngsters’ event on Saturday 3 September.
They took a photo opportunity this week to encourage others to sign up for the event before the registration deadline of Friday 19 August.
Said STV news reporter Debi: ‘I’ve taken part in the Great Scottish Run a few times before and it’s a brilliant day with a fantastic atmosphere – there’s always a great crowd lining the streets to cheer the runners on. Like Raman, this year I’ll be running for STV Appeal 2011 to help raise funds for children affected by poverty. It’s such an important cause and I’m delighted to support it in any way I can – it will make the race an even more memorable experience.’ She will be running in the half marathon.
Added STV sports presenter Raman who will tackle the 10k: ‘After taking part in the 10k for the first time ever last year, I’d encourage anyone to give it a try. It’s a fab day. And the feeling when – not if – you finish, is fantastic. Not only is it a great opportunity to support a charity that might be important to you, but you’ll give your fitness a boost at the same time. I’ll be running in support of STV Appeal 2011 to help combat the shocking extent of child poverty in Scotland, and I hope others will join me in supporting this fantastic new charity in its first year.’
Described as the largest mass participation sporting event in the country, organisers Glasgow Life, on behalf of Glasgow City Council, are urging people to pull on their trainers and take part in Scotland’s biggest running festival.
The 10k and half marathon races will be on Sunday 4 September and the 1.5k and 3k junior races on Saturday 3 September. Scotland’s elite wheelchair athletes will also be taking part in 1.5k and 3k races on the Sunday.
Sign up at www.runglasgow.org
On average, runners raise £1.5 million for charity each year.
The Bank of Scotland is a long-standing supporter of sports and arts in Scotland. Said a spokesperson: ‘Through our sponsorship we aim to support emerging talent across Scotland and to inspire and support young people, colleagues, communities and businesses all the way through to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.’
Photographer:  Ian Watson.

150 games and 100 goals later……

by Laura Montgomery

On Sunday 3 October Glasgow City striker, Kat Lindner, achieved a double milestone in Sunday’s 6-1 win over Rangers at Petershill, smashing in her 100th goal during her 150th appearance for the club!
Kat’s 150th appearance, since joining City in 2005, gives her a record bettered by only by 3 other current players
Not content with marking one piece of history, however, Kat bagged the first goal of the game, in the 11th minute, to notch up her 100th strike for the club, setting the team on the road to a convincing victory and another 3 points in the race for the clubs 4th successive Scottish Women’s Premier League Title.
Then, just to improve her strike rate even further, Kat netted twice more in the second half to round off a great day for her and the club.
Manager, Peter Caulfield, paid tribute to the striker, saying: ‘It is a great achievement for any individual in the game to score 100 goals and to complete this in only 150 appearances is testament to the quality that Kat possesses as a player.
‘She is fantastic at training and a great player to have around the club. She always plays for the team first and is also the creator for many of Glasgow City goals, she has made a huge contribution to our success.
‘She is now second in the all time Glasgow City goal scoring charts, behind prolific midfielder Suzanne Lappin who has 159 goals to her name, and I am convinced she will add many more to her current tally.’
Kat will have Suzanne’s tally in her sights when Glasgow City play Kilmarnock this Sunday, 10 October, at Blair Park in Hurlford, kick-off is at 2pm.

Small brewers gather for taste of industry co-operative

Representatives from some 35 of the country’s brewing companies gathered in Glasgow’s East End recently to discuss the creation of a Scottish small brewers’ association.
The event, which was hosted by WEST Brewery, was held at Templeton Business Centre and attracted delegates from as far north as Orkney.
Petra Wetzel, WEST managing director, said she wanted to move the idea of a Scottish association forward, asking industry partners to get together ‘and talk about things like procurement, logistics, distribution, bottling, quality assurance, marketing, all of these things which affect us all as brewers and could be really worthwhile to exchange ideas on’.
Petra, from Bavaria, is driven by her ideas, and despite being new to the brewing industry is not slow in moving her ideas forward.
‘Sometimes it takes a total outsider – who’s a bit bonkers – to really kind of initiate something like that,’ she said. ‘We have a great facility here, a great beer hall, it was a natural fit for WEST to initiate something like this.’
She added: ‘I think it’s really positive the way people have responded to the idea of starting a co-operative. It wouldn’t just be a trade association. It would go a step farther and say that we could start a co-operative for purchasing, whether that would be for utilities, services, raw materials.
‘We are really keen to explore the idea of starting a bottling co-operative for all the Scottish brewers to combine forces and have this in the central belt that would serve all the small brewers.’
With a British brewing landscape that is dominated by perhaps a dozen household names, many of which are now owned by overseas shareholders, Petra feels that strength in numbers in Scotland is the way forward to compete with the giant players.
‘If we can help each other to work more effectively- and at the end of the day we’re all in business, we’re not running charities – that’s all that matters.’
There is also the hope that co-operation will mean benefits to the Scottish economy, and from there, jobs.
‘A lot of the brewers are sending product down to England to get bottled. Diageo is making people redundant in Kilmarnock. Now, that’s whisky. At the end of the day, there are skilled workers in Kilmarnock who have worked in bottling who will lose their jobs … if we could create a bottling facility in Scotland employing some of those people then we have gained.’