GLASGOW City celebrated a remarkable 11th successive Scottish title after three quick-fire goals ended the challenge of nearest rivals Hibernian at Ainslie Park yesterday.
Captain Leanne Ross and the City players were presented with the SBS SWPL1 trophy and medals after the 3-0 win, with all the goals coming in a 10-minute spell midway through the first half.
That leaves City with the formality of completing their league season at Aberdeen, who were relegated yesterday, in six days’ time before meeting Hibs again in the Scottish Cup final the following Sunday.
City took the lead after 16 minutes thanks to a fine finish from central defender Lauren McMurchie and went further ahead in the 24th and 25th minutes through Abbi Grant and Hayley Lauder. Both goals followed mistakes from the home side.
That totally deflated the home side, who were without key players including captain Joelle Murray, and had it not been for goalkeeper Jenna Fife the scoreline could have been even more emphatic.
The manner of the defeat was particularly disappointing for Hibs, who until yesterday had given City a tougher run for their money than any other team in the 11-in-a-row run. As well as losing their chance of winning a domestic treble, they had to watch the trophy and medals being awarded to their rivals at their home ground.
City captain Ross, the only player to have been involved in all 11 title-winning campaigns, said: “The gap between us and the rest has been closing year on year. We’ve kept digging away and we knew if we kept putting the points on the board it was going to be in our hands.
“The last time we played Hibs at the Excelsior we had to get the win, and today it was just a case of seeing the game through and getting the points and wrapping up the title. Our front players really went at it from the first whistle and I thought we were fantastic.”
Elsewhere, Aberdeen’s 4-2 loss at Stirling University meant Hamilton’s 3-0 defeat to Spartans in a later kick-off made no difference to the relegation issue, while Celtic beat Rangers 5-1.
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