Goals, a red card, a contentious penalty, a sense of grievance and a decent crowd to boot; Celtic and Rangers made quite a din at New Douglas Park on Sunday afternoon.
It was Jo Potter who was left punching the air at the end of it as her side took all three points from a win that moves them four points clear of Celtic. Elena Sadiku, by that stage, was watching the game from the back of the stand, hoarse as she bellowed at her players and kicked every ball after being removed from the dug-out by referee Jamie Wilkie.
Furious at the award of a penalty, Sadiku had made her feelings known in a style sufficient enough to warrant a booking. Her sarcastic applause of the whistler promptly upgraded that to red as she was banished from the technical area.
Katie Wilkinson had kept her cool to dispatch the spot-kick amid the hullaballoo, to give Rangers a 2-1 advantage at that stage. The teams had been tied at the break after Caitlin Hayes had cancelled out Rio Hardy’s opener. Celtic’s response to being hard done by via the spot – and television pictures suggested that Sadiku had a point – was to channel into a goal with Saoirse Noonan netting a fine free-kick. Chelsea Cornet won it for Rangers with a fine arched finish.
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They left with nothing to show for their endeavours as they now get back onto Champions League territory for this week’s trip to Stamford Bridge.
Rangers looked like the team who had a free week in the opening stages of this game. Charlie Devlin’s free-kick caused all sorts of consternation for Celtic with Kathy Hill’s header saved by Kelsey Daugherty before the hosts managed to scramble the ball clear.
It was a portent of what was to come, however, as Rangers’ early pressure paid off.
Celtic’s untidiness in the middle of the park led to the opener with Wilkinson picking out Hardy. She took a touch on the edge of the box with her effort taking a deflection and lifting the ball over Daugherty and into the net.
Celtic settled into the game but it was Rangers who looked the more menacing. Hayes, back in the starting line-up after a notable absence, was forced to make a block after a mix-up between herself and Kelly Clark before Daugherty then threw herself to keep out the rebound.
Having lived dangerously at times, Celtic would have considered themselves fortunate to head into the interval with parity restored. In a half where they had looked every bit as leggy as their schedule had suggested they might be, they got a goal out of very little.
Noonan’s delivery had initially been cleared by Wilkinson. Lawton, who had had an effort blocked after a perfectly weighted ball through from Amy Gallacher a few minutes earlier, delivered an inviting ball to the back post for Hayes to head home.
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Lawton had a glorious chance to give Celtic the lead for the first time in the game after Noonan had teed her up just inside the box but she snatched wildly at the effort and sent it miles over the bar.
The pivotal moment came just on the hour mark. As Shannon McGregor and Devlin went for the ball, Devlin seemed to just stand on the foot of the Celtic midfielder. Referee Jamie Wilkie pointed to the spot, much to the fury of the home players and to Sadiku. Wilkinson kept her cool to drive her effort into the bottom right-hand corner with Daugherty going the wrong way. Sadiku, still irate, was booked for a comment to Wilkie with her sarcastic applause in response drawing a red card.
“F#ck off! F#ck off! F#cking bullshit!” she bellowed audibly as she was sent up the tunnel.
Noonan bent a free-kick into the top corner with those nursing a sense of grievance inside New Douglas Park eagerly lapping up the celebrations. Noonan might have had another almost immediately afterwards when she rounded Hill but just angled her effort wide of the target.
Celtic were incensed there was no penalty of their own when Lawton looked as though she might have been caught by Jenna Fife as an attempted chip went wide. Vocifeorus appeals that the keeper had caught the player after the ball had been played fell on deaf ears, much to the fury of the hosts.
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Murphy Agnew lifted an effort onto the roof of the net after Noonan had picked her out but just as Celtic started to feel they were in the ascendancy, Rangers took the lead again.
Cornet’s effort was a glorious strike as she capitalised on a poor clearance from Daugherty. Lifting the ball over Bruna she spun before volleying into the far corner.
