THERE will be a palpable sense of deja vu at Ainslie Park tomorrow when Spartans take on Celtic and Hibs host Glasgow City in the top two SWPL1 games.
The four teams met in the semi-finals of the SWPL Cup at exactly the same venue last Sunday, with Celtic and Hibs coming out on top.
In the other two games Rangers, under new head coach Amy McDonald, travel to play a Hamilton Accies side who are buoyant following last Sunday’s 5-1 over Aberdeen. That result dumped the north-east team to the foot of the table and they will be trying to bounce back at home to Stirling University.
The appointment of a head coach at Rangers was long overdue, and it has been a whirlwind start for the 31-year-old McDonald. She met the players for the first time on Tuesday night, undertook media duties at Ibrox on Wednesday, attended a talk given to the academy coaches by Pedro Caixinha on Thursday – and still managed to fit in four evening training sessions, including last night’s (fri).
Her young side beat Aberdeen 1-0 last time out, but that was their only win in four games and McDonald accepts that consolidation is the immediate aim.
“It’s difficult to come in at this stage of the season and make significant changes without causing uncertainty and unsettling everyone,” the former Glasgow City head of youth pointed out. “The players have shown really good energy in training and have bought in to what I’ve been saying, so it has all been positive.”
Hibs have won their four opening league games, but needed extra time to prevail over City in last Sunday’s semi-final. Their injury woes are starting to lighten, but the really bad news is that 21-year-old Scotland forward Lizzie Arnot is likely to miss the rest of the season following confirmation of an ACL knee injury.
“Over the last three seasons she’s been one of our stand-out players,” head coach Chris Roberts said.
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