Celtic 1-2 Glasgow City
By Gethin Thurlow (20/10/25)
Above: The ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ campaign was supported in all SWPL fixtures this weekend Photo: SWPL
Glasgow City’s 2-0 lead was just enough to see them through a final 10 minutes full of Celtic pressure, sending them five points clear at the top of the SWPL after the first round of fixtures. Celtic dropped to fourth in the table having experienced a mixed start to the campaign.
The Teams
Host Celtic opted for a new look left hand side, with Aislin Streicek on the wing ahead of Lisa Robertson – the defensive midfielder that can step into left back when required. Elena Sadiku went all out in attack, starting both Amy Gallacher and Maria McAneny in attacking midfield behind Saoirse Noonan. Being this aggressive was a risk for the second-placed side in the SWPL, leaving Momo Nakao essentially alone to do the brunt of midfield work and ensure that the attack even has the ball enough to use all their talent.
Leanne Ross’s unbeaten side looked very familiar, with Lisa Evans at right back, Natalia Wrobel favoured in the number 10 role and Amy Anderson anchoring the side in defensive midfield. Ross has had to deal with managing more games than any other SWPL side recently as they continue to progress through the Europa Cup, so she will be happy with the work done to allow such a strong team to be named at the end of a two-week stretch with four games.
The Action
Linda Motlhalo unexpectedly started in a double pivot at the base of midfield alongside Anderson. Whether this was a response to Celtic’s team or not, it was certainly effective at overpowering their opponents, and Glasgow City were able to dominate that midfield battle and assert themselves on the Celtic defence.
Despite that success in the middle of the park, City’s front four struggled to create clear chances, with the Emma-Lawton-led Celtic back four holding strong. Nakao was left to do much of the physical heavy lifting in that midfield, and she did this as well as she could given the circumstances, winning the ball back many times and starting attacks for her side.
Given the abundance of attacking options, when Celtic did break forward there was usually a player available to at least fight for long balls that came into them, but trying to combine with each other and create chances out of that was difficult. Gallacher and Noonan playing together was rare these days, and that lack of chemistry – along with Streicek who did not often play on the left wing – hindered Celtic’s attacking threat in the first half.
As the Glasgow City pressure kept increasing, Lisa Rodgers was called into action various times and did well to dive all over the goal and keep City out. However, she could do nothing when Sofia Maatta was played in – open and in front of the goal – by a perfectly timed Nicole Kozlova pass. Maatta made no mistake, and City had a lead over their city rivals in Hamilton.
It had been a relatively equal first half, with neither team clicking in the final third, but as the rain poured and players entered to begin the second half, it was the away side that took control and sought to put the game to bed.
While there were no personal changes, Leanne Ross had clearly noticed some tactical aspects of the Celtic team to exploit, and her side instantly looked more dynamic in attack. Right back Evans can play as a winger too, and used her speed and attacking instincts to overlap beyond Maatta. While the Finnish winger was marked by Robertson, there was no one to follow Evans, so Glasgow City used this advantage to get in behind multiple times, allowing Evans to deliver some good crosses.
Just after the hour mark, Evans found herself free again on the right hand side and aimed a cross at Kozlova and Harrison in the middle. In the torrential conditions though, she sliced the ball, sending it away from City’s striker and right into the top left corner of the goal, giving Rodgers no chance to see or stop it and doubling their lead.
Initially, the pattern of the game continued. Kelly Clark’s mistake at the back summed up Celtic’s day, when she miscontrolled a high ball and allowed it to fall to Lisa Forrest. Leanne Ross’s first substitute of the day laid the ball on a plate for Maatta as Kozlova had done earlier, but Rodgers got out and managed to deflect her shot out for a corner.
Kimberly Smit has been a very solid centre back all year for Glasgow City, but on this day she sparked the Celtic resistance at New Douglas Park. Under pressure from Noonan, she couldn’t find a pass and eventually gave the ball up, allowing Noon through, and she easily bent her shot into the bottom corner, giving her team some hope of a comeback.
Kozlova pulled some nice moves and got herself into the box from the restart, but her shot was pushed wide by Rodgers. From this point on, the home fans and players suddenly seemed to remember who they were, pushing all out to level the tie.
In the three minutes of injury time allotted, Cross and Noonan combined well with the Irish striker’s shot finding McAneny in the middle. She could only blast her shot wide of the post, to the delight of City and despair of the home fans.
Player of the Match Amy Anderson
A player that has been at the heart of Glasgow City’s team for a lot of the season, Anderson rarely gets the plaudits that others in her side do. Without the ex-Motherwell star nailing her role, the others couldn’t succeed. She gets everything going for her side, winning the ball back when needed and often being designated the role of attack starter in the absence of Sam Van Diemen, who departed the club this summer.
With such a unique style of football that City play – focusing on beautiful and quick passing moves rather than the more direct and basic football employed by other top teams like Hibs and Rangers – the decision making of Anderson can determine how threatening an attack is.
On this rainy Sunday, Anderson thrived and seemed unaffected by the conditions or physicality that the game was played with, delivering the ball around to where it was needed and limiting the forward threat of Gallacher and McAneny.
Where this leaves the teams
There were doubts over the abilities of Elena Sadiku coming into the season and so far we haven’t got a clear answer either way. Losses against City and Rangers suggest that perhaps she cannot get that top level of performance from her side against the best of the best, but a draw that Celtic were leading for the majority of against Hibs was a good result. Sadiku also managed an opening day victory at Hearts and has dispatched of all other sides with relative ease.
Fans are yet to be convinced, and the six point gap to City at the top is too much for such a club to accept, but they are level with Rangers and just one point behind Hibs. This game was a tough matchup, but ultimately the performance was not good enough, and even if they had found a leveller at the end, it wouldn’t have undone that. The international break gives Celtic and Sadiku time to reflect and try to come back stronger, but she will know that improvements are needed if she is to stay around beyond the season.
Glasgow City’s season keeps getting better and better. After their late comeback on Wednesday kept their European run alive, Leanne Ross once again proved that she is expertly balancing rotation to ensure minutes are managed while performance doesn’t drop. With eight wins and one draw in the first nine league games, it has been as close to perfection as they could’ve hoped for, and with the other professional teams taking points away from each other, their lead at the top is five points.
The international break is actually not ideally timed for Glasgow City as they carry all the momentum, but they won’t mind a break. Ross needs to ensure that her side comes out of the break firing on all the same cylinders as they are now and she’ll be fine. There is of course so far to go in the SWPL title race, but it’s all going as Ross would’ve dreamed of for now.
Teams: CELTIC (4-1-4-1): Rodgers, Lawton, Clark (c), Walsh, Robertson, Nakao, Cross, McAneny, Gallacher, Streicek, Noonan. Substitutes: Luke (for Streicek 69’), Smith (for Gallacher 75’), McGoldrick (for Nakao 88’)
Scorer: 1-2 Noonan 81’
GLASGOW CITY (4-2-3-1): Gibson (c), Evans, Golob, Smit, Muir, Motlhalo, Anderson, Maatta, Wrobel, Kozlova, Harrison. Substitutes: Forrest (for Harrison 62’), Lockwood (for Wrobel 78’), Whelan (for Maatta 78’)
Scorers: 0-1 Maatta 35’, 0-2 Evans 61’
Referee: Euan Birch
Follow Impetus on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball TikTok: @impetusfootball
Instagram: @impetusfootball
impetusfootball.org 