'Lick our wounds' - Rangers relinquish grip of SWPL Cup as Glasgow City clinch trophy for record-equalling seventh time
Rangers boss expresses regret at not ‘rolling the dice a bit sooner’ in cup final defeat - but is confident league title bid can be recovered
Rangers Women relinquished their grip of the SWPL Cup after teenager Lisa Forrest scored twice in two second-half minutes to ensure Glasgow City got their hands on the trophy for the first time in 11 years.
In testing conditions at Fir Park, there was little to separate the two sides before the match eventually sprung into life with 20 minutes remaining. Forrest, 19, slotted home Lisa Evans’ corner before the Scotland youth international fired a powerful drive from outside the box beyond the keeper within seconds of the restart.
It left their Glasgow rivals rueing a series of missed opportunities as Leanne Crichton’s side - who were gunning for their fourth consecutive triumph in the competition - failed to recover from a crazy 89-second goal burst.
Kim Shin-Ji rattled the crossbar in the first-half, while Katie Wilkinson was guilty of missing the target with the goal at her mercy after City’s No.1 Lee Gibson could only parry the ball straight to her feet.
Wilkinson would set up a frantic finish to the contest when she rifled a superb strike past Gibson after 89 minutes, but Rangers ran out of time in pursuit of a late leveller and instead had to watch their Petershill-based opponents lift their first domestic cup since 2019.
Victory for Glasgow City not only made up for the disappointment of suffering their first SWPL loss of the domestic campaign against Rangers right at the death last Sunday, but meant they had secured the silverware for a record-equalling seventh time.
Leanne Crichton rues decision not to throw dice earlier
It kept Leanne Ross’ side on course for a domestic treble with a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic on the horizon, while opposite number Crichton was left to reflect on some of her in-game decisions as she urged his players to use the heartbreak as a learning curve.
Asked to sum up her feelings post-match, Crichton told Sky Sports: “Probably frustration, if I'm being honest. I felt the manner in which we lost the two goals was obviously really disappointing.
“I think the set play, they get a decent block on at the back post, you go 1-0 down, which at that point the game is more than recoverable. I think the quickfire double within two or three minutes really puts us under pressure and the momentum shifts. So frustrated that we probably waited until we were 2-0 down to really come out fighting.
“I’m frustrated with myself that I didn't roll the dice a bit sooner. I just felt before that we had an opportunity in the game and it felt like it was really opening up and a goal was definitely coming either way. So I was a little bit reluctant to go and roll the dice too early and then at that point it probably becomes too late.
“It's goals that we'll look at and be disappointed at losing. I think we could have controlled that better but in the same breath, probably at the other end of the pitch, I don't think we were anywhere near ruthless enough and lacked that cutting edge.
“There was too many bouncing balls inside their box that we could and should have punished them. So again we'll come away and we'll reflect on it but it's been an opportunity missed, because I don't think there was much between the sides.
“We’re going to need to lick our wounds and suffer tonight, but we feel we can still go and recover the league title and we're still in the Scottish Cup. I think this will really shape us (as a team).”
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