Glasgow City interim head coach Grant Scott eager to sign off with victory against former club Hibernian

Grant Scott will bring his time as interim head coach of Glasgow City to an end against former club Hibernian this weekend and acknowledged it was a fixture he immediately pencilled in his diary.

Scott will step down from his role after Sunday’s televised Scottish Women’s Premier League encounter with fourth-placed Hibs at the Tony Macaroni Arena, with newly appointed Eileen Gleeson set to take over the reins next week.

Scott, who replaced Scott Booth following his summer move to Birmingham City, led Hibernian to two domestic cup doubles in 2018 and 2019 and guided the capital outfit into the Women’s Champions League.

Scott admits it will be fitting to sign off from his time in charge of the 14-time Scottish Champions against the team he enjoyed the most successful spell of his coaching career at.

Determined to end his tenure on a winning note, he said: “It’s a strange one that my final game is against Hibs but fate is a funny old thing, isn’t it?

“I must confess that when I first came into Glasgow City in this interim role, I did look for this fixture quite early on.

“At that point, I guess part of me didn’t want to be involved in the fixture for obvious reasons, but I’m fully focused on City and seeing the job out right to the end.

“I must continue to be as professional as I can and make sure things are handed over in a good state to Eileen with a fit squad and a decent points total.

“We’ve still to finalise our game plan but I think, first and foremost, the opponent will be tough to play against.

“I feel like last season was a bit of a blip for Hibs. They’re still a good side and their position in the league this year (4^th) is much more secure, which I expect them to maintain right through the season.

“I think they can still push on and try to challenge the top three sides with the quality they have got.

“I know most of them pretty well, there’s a lot of quality players and creativity there and they know how to fight against Glasgow City, so we’ll need a bit of everything about us on Sunday.”

City trail leaders Rangers by two points after recording six wins from their first eight SWPL games, with Scott laying the foundations in the club’s quest of a 15th consecutive domestic title.

A 5-0 thrashing of Aberdeen on Wednesday night - all five goals coming in an explosive first-half display – allowed Scott the opportunity to hand much-needed game time to Mya Bates and Niamh Noble, two of City’s brightest young prospects.

He admitted: “We were a bit self-critical after the game that we maybe didn’t add more goals in the second half, but all of those factors considered I was delighted to win up there.

“We played against Partick Thistle last weekend, who are quite a physical team so we had a few knocks and bruises to contend with from that match.

“It’s a fair old journey to make on a midweek and the change over to a grass pitch as well was something else we had to adapt to.

“Obviously it was a huge advantage to get ourselves comfortable in the game as it gives you the option to let some of the players that have been carrying little niggles time on the pitch.

“It gave me the opportunity to see where some players are at considering the game coming up on Sunday, so it was certainly useful to get into that dominant position.”