Despair and triumph in Scottish Women’s cup final

It’s always the case that there are winners and losers at cup finals, but perhaps there was just an extra edge to both the highs and lows from this year’s Scottish women’s soccer cup final.

The women’s soccer league season in Scotland came to a last-minute rollercoaster end last weekend with Glasgow City becoming SWPL champions. Celtic clinched second place, joining City in qualifying for the lucrative UEFA Women’s Champions League next season. Rangers fell to a disappointing third place, without a Champions League spot and a financial headache to consider.

Sunday’s Scottish cup final between the two Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers offered both a chance to get over at least some of last weekend’s disappointment. Rangers had already won the League cup this season whereas this final would be Celtic’s last chance to bag a trophy.

A few more records were being broken at the final, it’s been that sort of a season for women’s soccer in Scotland. This was the first women’s final to be played at Scotland’s national stadium, Hampden. It’s also the first women’s Scottish cup final between the two rivals. The match was being broadcast on BBC 1 Scotland making it available without pay-per-view.

More significantly the match had a record crowd attendance of 10,446, more than double last year’s cup final figure when played at Hearts of Midlothian’s Tynecastle stadium.

A convincing win in women’s soccer final

Despite all being set up for a thrilling encounter, the match was a bit quiet on the pitch. A lackluster Rangers maybe hadn’t shaken off their third place disappointment or were disturbed by shock news during the week that their coach Malky Thomson wouldn’t be in the manager role next season.

Celtic seemed more up for the battle and had the best of a goalless first half. Goals from  Natasha Flint and Claire O’Riordan after 64 and 67 minutes gave them a 2-0 lead. VAR made an important intervention around 80 minutes to rule a goal from Rangers Laura Berry as offside and the match ended with Celtic as clear and convincing two-goal winners, retaining the cup for the second season in a row and securing their much-deserved trophy for this season.

Celtic captain Kelly Clark spoke afterward with BBC Scotland and saw the great future for women’s soccer.

"“It’s a dream come true. I’ve watched Celtic Men do that so many times in my 10 years at Celtic. To do it, and be down in history with such a special group of players, it just feels amazing.”“It’s amazing that it includes a crowd with lots and lots of little girls, who can see what they can do in Scotland. This year, for women’s football has been unbelievable and I hope it just keeps going and going.”"

Rangers though will be in deep despair at such a poor end to the season. Their league cup win won’t be much consolation for fans or the club, which is believed to have spent heavily this season on the women’s setup to deliver success. Perhaps that explains the managerial changeover.

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