The Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup Semi-Finals are this Sunday as four of Scotland’s top teams battle for a place in the first cup final of the year.
League champions, Glasgow City face reigning SWPL Cup champions Hibernian, while last year’s finalists Celtic are up against Forfar Farmington.
It’s a super Sunday of action, with both games being played at Falkirk Stadium. The first game is at 12:00 between two of the game’s biggest rivals, Glasgow City and Hibernian. Both sides met in the Scottish Building Society SWPL a fortnight ago with a late Abi Harrison strike for Hibernian making it 2-2.
Speaking after their 1-0 win over Forfar on Sunday, Glasgow City Manager, Scott Booth, said, “We always look forward to the games against Hibs, they’re always important games. It was good to get the three points today to take into the Semi-Final.
“We’ve just played them, so both teams know each other really well. They’re very competitive games and I’m sure this one will be no different.”
Also speaking after their win over Forfar, Glasgow City’s Megan Foley said, “It’s going to be a hard game again, it always is. I think we’ve got to do what we did last time against them, put as much pressure on them as possible and make them feel under pressure.”
Speaking after their 3-1 win over Celtic, Caretaker Manager of Hibernian Ladies, Grant Scott, said, “We just played City, so we’ve got a lot to review from that game. It’s another big match and it’s a really strong side that they’ve got.
“We’ve got the win (today) and we knew it would be tough coming here but we go back up the road with three points. That keeps the momentum going, keeps the players buzzing, and keeps them lively.”
Hibs forward, Abi Harrison, said, “We know we can probably play better (this season) and the most positive thing is that we’re getting results and goals, despite not playing our best. We’re wanting it all to come together against City.
“We had a poor first half (against Glasgow City) but we still came out of the game two-each. We can’t draw this Sunday, so we’re going for that win within 90 minutes. We know what we’re capable of and we’re hopeful of reaching the final.”
The second game at 15:30 is between Celtic and Forfar Farmington. The two sides met in league action last month with Celtic winning 2-0 at Station Park. Forfar though are coming off the back of a good performance away to Glasgow City where they were unlucky to not take a point from the match.
After that match, Forfar Farmington Manager, Mark Nesbitt, said, “I’m really looking forward to playing Celtic. I think the players will take a lot of belief from today, so hopefully that will give us a good week in training. We’re going to go at it as best we can and hopefully we can get ourselves through to the final.”
This is the first time that Forfar Farmington have reached this stage of the competition but they did reach the Semi-Finals of the SSE Scottish Cup where they lost to Glasgow City. “All the experiences you pick up in every game are good and last year will certainly help the players” said Mark. “It will be a little bit more normal this time round and hopefully that will help them.”
Celtic come into the match after losing to Hibernian 3-1. Speaking after the game, Celtic Manager, David Haley, said, “The way that we performed and our character (from today) will be needed against Forfar because their difficult to break down. They’ll fancy their chances because it’s a Semi-Final and anything can happen.
“We just have to make sure we are 100% concentrated and do things properly. If we do that, we’ll win the game.”
Entry is available at the gate, with tickets priced at £5 for adults and £2 for children and concessions with access to both games. For those that can’t make it this Sunday, both matches will also be streamed live via the Scottish Women’s Football YouTube channel.
