Glasgow City Emerge Victorious from an SWPL Season Like No Other
Even before the orange flames had plumed high into the early evening sky the seven days preceding a truly incredible end to the SWPL season had seen conversations around the title race begin to bulge outwards from the small, long established bubbles that had housed the discourse around the Scottish women’s game for decades.
On the Saturday before what would prove to be a dramatic closing day of the season I was in the South Lanarkshire village of Stonehouse where Royal Albert hosted Lugar Boswell Thistle in an end of season dead rubber between two sides already destined for the doldrums of the men’s pyramid.
The game was lively enough, the Ayrshire visitors winning 6–2 but it was a second half conversation that happened just a few steps behind me that piqued my interest the most; one about the SWPL title race where animated digits configured title-winning permutations and hopes of making it a big day out the hot topic of conversation. The 25,000+ who turned up at Ibrox and Celtic Park for a duo of title deciders, along with the many more who had arrived willing to believe at marquee games across the country this season are a more in your face marker of growth, but the latent conversations away from established spaces; on lower league terraces, in the office and over a pint at local hosteleries should be seen as equally galvanising as we all look to the future.
Of course for most clubs growth is a by-product of success, you just had to look at the nervous twitching at mobile phone screens that peppered the gazes pointed towards the pitch on Sunday to understand what lifting the title meant for Glasgow City, Rangers and Celtic. All three were in contention come Sunday afternoon.
A dizzying concoction of outcomes were possible but in an opening forty-five minutes where chances would be frequent but indecisive across both games, it would be Celtic to strike first. PFA Scotland Player of the Year Caitlin Hayes, foregoing her usual bullet header routine for a smartly taken effort from the edge of the box. Her sprint to retrieve the ball to then plonk it on the centre spot an awareness that goals, come full-time, could be crucial.
At Ibrox the roar that welcomed both sides enthused an early flurry from the hosts, if Rangers were to win the title they too would need goals to be their ally, but only an early Kathy Hill header stretched Scotland number one Lee Gibson; a brief distraction from a mainly observational first-half brief, although her moment was still to come.
Never has there been a gantry populated with as many open laptops and scrawled upon notebooks at a domestic women’s game than there was this weekend. As the two sides returned to the pitch at Ibrox the nervous excitement that permeated throughout the stadium pre-match started to be tinged with a tenser air; Celtic were holding the advantage over them both.
At times, the drama outmatched the on pitch quality, but each foray towards goal generated an ever louder volume of ooohs and aahs. Jaws clenching and hands making ever increasing visits to foreheads. The pace in the Southside became more frantic, while in the east, Celtic, who were by this time 2–0 up on a Hearts side who had already sealed a best ever fourth placed finish, were doing just enough to see them through.
The speed at which browser tabs were being flicked through on my laptop started to gather pace. The increase in coverage of the SWPL meant this final day was available across the UK. Fifteen minutes to go, and just one goal could change the course of the title in one of any three separate directions. A second for Celtic, this time from Natasha Flint, the Leicester City loanee having been the January replacement for Clarissa Larissey that Fran Alonso’s side needed. Rangers now needed two, City still one. As the minutes on the clock started to drift away the arrival of rain on Edminston Drive gave a biblical feel to a season climax like no other. The title looked destined for Parkhead but in football there is always some time for the narrative.
In the closing weeks of the season City’s stranglehold on the top spot seemed to be slipping, consecutive losses to Celtic saw their leading margin close, Rangers a riddle they were unable to defeat. Despite being leaders since the start of the year Leanne Ross’ side came into the final day viewed by some as outsiders.
Their full-time status may see them outpower most in their division but the Old Firm have become a new challenge and, despite their dominance of the women’s game over the last two decades, for City the underdog ethos that helped form the club 25 years ago under the stewardship of Laura Montgomery and Carol-Anne Stewart has become how they like it.
As the chase for an elusive goal gathered pace names were hauled from the trenches. First it was Aoife Colvill; thrown on with ten minutes to go, a return to action for the first time since January 2022, the Irish-Australian forward having worked with the Glasgow City Foundation as she recoverd from an ACL injury. Jo Love would follow, the veteran midfielder had only made fleeting appearances towards the tail end of the season after going on her own ACL comeback journey. Neither would have a say in the defining moment, but both would be on the park when it struck.
As the game got more stretched and with two of the four additional minutes played South African international midfielder Linda Molthalo would pick up the ball in space, space that would seem cramped when compared with the expanses that the SWPL’s leading goalscorer Lauren Davidson would find herself inside the Rangers’ area.
The 21-year-old has built upon a breakout season and was a surprise omission from the PFA Scotland Women’s Player of the Year nomination list but it would be she that would provide the definitive moment in the title race to send City fans (and the media team sat just a couple of seats beside me) into bedlam. The taxi that ten minutes earlier had punched in a postcode to Paradise was set for a change in direction, but the drama wasn’t over yet.
With Celtic in cruise control, a Rangers goal would hand the title back to Fran Alonso’s side and give hope to Malky Thomson’s sides now slim Champions League chances. The pressure came but in Gibson they found a goalkeeper whose level of performance in City’s biggest moments has started to feel eternal.
First she would get her body behind a Maddie Nolf effort that rocketed through a forest of blue and orange bodies before moments later lifting a glove to claw a Sam Kerr effort past the post just as Scotland’s number one was looking prone. It was a pair of saves that brought people off their feet in joy and despair. Rangers would have the ball in the net, but it would be ruled out for a foul, and it would be Gibson’s double stop that ensured Glasgow City claimed a sixteenth SWPL title.
In the aftermath as the City entourage waited for the trophy to arrive it was hard not to reflect on the achievement made, for a side that in the last decade have made big results almost routine this felt one of their biggest.
During post-match conversations both Head Coach Leanne Ross and long-serving midfielder Hayley Lauder ranked the manner of victory at the end of a long and gruelling season as one of their best ever. A success to compare with the last gasp 2019 Scottish Cup victory over Hibernian and the penalty shootout win over Brøndby that secured a Champions League Quarter Final the following season. The feeling emanating from those with the Petershill Park side on their mind was that they had proved the doubters wrong.
For City, a season’s efforts afforded them the ultimate prize. For Celtic, who would end with a 2–0 victory over Hearts, the consolation of a Champions League spot, which despite the full-time tears would be an improvement on last year’s third placed finish. Of the three sides who began the day with hopes of lifting the trophy it would be Rangers left to ponder what could have been.
Both Old Firm sides will now have the opportunity to bounce back in next week’s Scottish Cup Final, but for the newly re-crowned champions Glasgow City, the focus will be on recuperation and celebration.
In an SWPL season like no other; where more eyes were fixated on screens watching the game so many are passionate about, where opinions were written in ever increasing volume and where fans raised their voice louder than ever, drama would be provided all the way until the season’s very last beat.
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