Spartans defeated by SWPL1 champions in first league game of 2024

The hosts competed well in the first half and only found themselves 2-1 down at the break after Becky Galbraith pulled a goal back. However, the Glaswegians stepped it up in the second period and netted another three goals to comfortably see out the win in the capital. 

With recently appointed head coach Jack Beesley not yet in control, assistant manager Paul Weir was in the dugout. Looking back on the game, he was proud of the efforts his side produced.

“In the first half, we competed relatively well,” Weir told the Edinburgh Evening News. “There were two errors for City’s first two goals but we did well to get ourselves back into the game. We played good football in spells and scored a really good goal. I said to the girls at halftime to believe that they could go and get something out of the game. Again, in the first 15 minutes of the second half, we competed but the third goal killed us off a little bit. From there, City stepped it up and showed why they are a good side and scored another two goals.”

A poor touch from Rebecca Foote saw Kinga Kozak pounce on the loose ball. The midfielder attempted to recover from her mistake but ended up bringing the Glasgow City attacker down for a penalty. Lauren Davidson then made no mistake from 12 yards to put the visitors in front after nine minutes. After an extended amount of pressure, Glasgow City made it 2-0 midway through the first half. Emily Whelan managed to get her head on the end of a cross and divert the ball into the net. Amy Muir was inches away from getting the visitors third as her effort smashed off the underside of the bar. However, Spartans didn’t give up and a fantastic cross from Hannah Jordan was flicked on by Galbraith and landed in the back of the net to half the deficit. 

At the start of the second period, Glasgow City continued to search for a third goal that would restore their two-goal lead. After sustaining another big period of pressure, Davidson slipped through the Spartans defence before taking it around Alicia Yates and placing it into the net. Glasgow City had their fourth just after the hour mark when Aleigh Gambone slammed a loose ball into the top of the net. Kozak then added a fifth just before the full-time whistle as she connected well with a cross to see the ball fly into the net off the post. 

“They are a good team and they have some good players,” he added. “We trained well all week and prepared well for this game. The girls stuck to the game plan throughout and up until about the hour mark, City showed why they are up at that end of the table. They showed their class and scored a couple of good goals. Our girls competed and now we just have to move on. We now have a break and will then play Hearts in two weeks so we will prepare for then.”