Athlone Town 0 – 3 Glasgow City
By Catherine MacKenzie
Above: Kelly Brady clashes with Lisa Evans. Photo: Dan Clohessy/INPHO.
The women’s Europa Cup continued midweek with Glasgow Ciy making the short hop across to the League of Ireland’s Athlone Town.
The context
The first qualifying round of the inaugural Europa Cup kicked off last week; two-legged duels between clubs from across Europe. The second tier of European women’s football, clubs enter the qualifying rounds through either league position or by exiting the UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifying rounds. The League of Ireland’s Athlone Town were drawn against Scottish Premier League club Glasgow City. Leanne Ross’ City side dominated the first leg, gaining a three goal advantage last week at Petershill.
The action
Following their dominant 3-0 lead in the first leg, Glasgow dominated the early stages. They pressed aggressively without a breakthrough until the 33rd minute, when Republic of Ireland international Emily Whelan latched onto a perfectly tailored cross from Linda Motlhalo and headed home. The Scottish team searched for a second goal for the rest of the half, with Sofia Määttä causing the Athlone defense repeated problems with her pace and ability to work through the lines.
The 20-year-old Finnish international was withdrawn at half-time – with City 4-0 up on aggregate, likely to manage her minutes ahead of a weekend visit from Hearts in the league. Whilst she formed the only change for the visitors, Athlone made a host of changes at the break, starting the second half brightly. They had their first real chances of the game, with Hannah Waesch’s shot missing the target and Madie Gibson taking a dangerous free kick.
However, it did not take long for Glasgow City to re-establish their momentum – and a number of set-pieces followed. Whelan’s corner was met by Dutch defender Kimberley Smit who had a decent chance, and Motlhalo forced a save from Maria Matthaiou in the Athlone goal. Former Arsenal player Lisa Evans delivered a perfectly-weighted corner which met a City head but went wide, and Matthaiou produced a strong diving save to further frustrate the visitors.
A penalty from substitute Nicole Kozlova was saved, but the visitors exploited Athlone’s disorganisation at the back to work the ball easily back into the danger zone. Kozlova was ready to pounce and headed into the net for City’s second goal of the evening. A third followed as Kozlova tapped in from an Amy Muir cross.
Where this leaves the teams
With Hibernian’s exit at the hands of Inter Milan, Glasgow City form the last Scottish side remaining in Europe. This is a mantle the club will hold in high regard: having a team in European competition reflects well on the domestic league – with the introduction of the Europa Cup, there is more of a chance for clubs like City to be seen by a wider audience.
Athlone Town’s exit from the competition will be disappointing for the League of Ireland, however the exposure that has come from the run is positive. There is hope that with this visibility, the league will continue on the path towards becoming fully professional, with greater investment across the board leading to more teams taking part in European competition.
TEAMS: ATHLONE TOWN (4-4-2): Matthaiou, K. Brennan, McNally, Shine, Rice, O’Connor, Slevin, Waesch, Ryan, Brady, Donegan. Substitutes: Plaschko, S. Brennan (for Donegan 46′), Molloy (for O’Connor 46′), Mooney, Gibson (for McNally 46′), Strickland, C. O’Neill, Fitzeraid, D. O’Neill.
GLASGOW CITY (4-3-3): Gibson, Evans, Golob, Smit, Muir, Motlhalo, Lauder, Wróbel, Määttä, Whelan, Forrest. Substitutes: Clachers, Warrington, McLaughlin (for Lauder 59′), Lockwood (for Wróbel 59′), Harrison, Anderson (for Motlhalo 66′), Kozlova (for Forrest 59′), Tanaka (for Määttä 58′), Brownlie, Boyes.
Scorers: Whelan 0-1 (33′), Kozlova 0-2, 0-3 (80′, 82′)
Referee: Karoline Wacker
Attendance: TBC
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