Boroughmuir should be “proud of themselves” after they bow out of the Scottish Cup

The Edinburgh side showed brilliant character throughout the game and in parts, more than matched the Glaswegians. Celtic, who are second in the SWPL1, are the top scorers in the division with 78 goals in 18 games. Celtic have amassed two 7-0’s, three 8-0’s as well as a 9-0 victory against Hibs so far this season. Boroughmuir manager Suzy Shepherd came away from the game extremely proud of her team.

“Celtic are a top team and we knew that coming into this fixture”, she told the Edinburgh Evening News. “We knew it would be extremely difficult. We had a game plan and the girls need to be proud of themselves, they have worked their absolute socks off. We limited their chances. The frustrating part for us were the first two goals, they were preventable. However, the girls gave their all there.

“We were extremely organsied and we knew that we had to stay focused for 90 minutes. There was small lapses of concentration and you can’t do that against a team like Celtic or they will punish you. They have put seven, eight or nine past teams in their own league and we are in the league below.”

It took 44 seconds for Celtic to take the lead. A ball over the top fell for Tegan Bowie who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Abigail Varghese almost equalised for the hosts 10 minutes later. After a quick counter attack, the ball was played through to Varghese inside the box and her shot was well-saved by the keeper Celtic would soon double their lead from the penalty spot. A late challenge in the box allowed Chloe Craig to step up and place the ball into the corner. Maria McAneny made it 3-0 as she converted low into the bottom corner mid-way through the half. Maria Novou did have the ball in the for Boroughmuir just before half-time however, an offside in the build up ruled it out.

Lisa Rodgers made an excellent save at the start of the second half to prevent McAneny from getting her brace. 64 minutes in, Craig was in the right place at the right time to head home to make it 4-0. Ferguson was so close getting Celtic’s fifth but Rodgers was there again with a fantastic stop. She would soon be called upon again with a brilliant reaction save from point blank range to tip the ball onto the post. Liv Ferguson scored late on to round-off the win late on with a well-placed effort to ensure Celtic are in the draw for the quarter-finals.

“We are a team that know we can score goals”, Shepherd added. “We had opportunities today, and the message was to just make good decisions and take care with that final ball. On our day maybe [Novou’s] goal stands, it was 3-0 at the time so it would have only been 3-1 at half-time.

“We aim to just to become a bit more consistent [in the league]. We have shown against Montrose and Gartcairn what we are capable of. We are just aiming for consistency and to keep playing our game.”