The Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) has now reached a critical stage and looks set to repeat or even exceed the nail biting ends to recent seasons. Phase one is over after 22 rounds of league matches. Each team has played each other home and away and finalised their positions ahead of phase two.
The league now splits into two halves for the final second stage. There are ten more games to be played for each team in the two halves of the table. The top six will play for the league title and a place in Europe. The bottom six are looking to avoid relegation, particularly tough this season with three clubs set to be relegated.
February and the first weekend in March saw some big results. High scores, lots of goals, some tough draws, and some narrow defeats. Those have left an extremely competitive top-six table set to battle it out across two cities in Scotland for the title.
At least four clubs are in the race for women's league title
Only three points separate the top four clubs. Glasgow City leads the way with a far superior goal difference over second-placed Hibernian, but both sides sit on 54 points. That’s a brilliant position for Hibernian this season so far.
Behind those two are Rangers in third with 52 points, just one ahead of Celtic, but with a hefty goal difference too. In fifth place are Hearts with 46 points. It’s probably a few too far behind the form teams, but Hearts won’t be giving anything up yet and hoping the top clubs take points from each other.
Motherwell made the top six with 32 points. They are out of any title chase but will be relieved to be secure in the top half of the table. They ended the first phase comfortably ahead of Partick on 24 points.
The bottom six clubs in SWPL face a tough relegation battle
The bottom six are led by Partick with Aberdeen having pulled themselves up the table into eighth on 21 points. Spartans and Montrose are in ninth and tenth with 17 and 14 points. Behind them lie Queens Park and Dundee’s United, both a bit further adrift with eight and four points.
The relegation line gets drawn after the ninth position. So currently it’s Montrose, Queens Park, and Dundee United in the frame before those final ten matches. It’s hard to see the latter two being able to pull themselves away from relegation. It could get quite tense for Spartans and Montrose as they seek to be ninth or higher. Aberdeen will also want to keep going on their run of improved results against the lower teams.
But let’s revisit that top-of-the-table six. The next ten games could be spectacular, and a bit edgy too. Any of the top four could lift the title and have it all to play for, though as above don’t rule out Hearts to spring a surprise or two. The league has been quite close in recent years, going to the final minutes of the last matches. It could be even closer this season.