Celtic "embarrass" Hibs, as Rangers and Glasgow City hand out thrashings - SWPL round-up

Opening day in the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) saw Fran Alonso’s Celtic destroy Hibs, Rangers hit double figures, Glasgow City down Spartans and a Hearts summer signing hit a dream hat-trick on debut.

Amy Gallagher tucks away her penalty against former side Hibs (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Two huge wins for Rangers and Glasgow City, meant last season’s top two began their SWPL seasons with a real statement of intent.

However, it was Fran Alonso’s Celtic side that offered up most eye-catching result of the weekend, destroying fellow top four side Hibernian 9-0 at the Penny Cars Stadium.

A hat-trick each from playmaker Jacynta and Canadian star Clarissa Larisey, followed by a brace from former Hibee Amy Gallagher and an Ellis Notley own goal, handed Celtic a hugely impressive victory.

New Rangers skipper Kathryn Hill enjoyed a dream second-debut, scoring in a 14-0 win over Glasgow Women (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

On the win, head coach Alonso said: “I’m so proud of the girls. We had a game plan. We’ve been outstanding all week in training but today – when it matters most – we executed it to perfection.

"They (Hibs) are a very talented squad. They have many great new players, and they struggled to put three of four passes together because of how efficient we were. I knew we would be good – but I didn’t think we’d be that good”.

Hibs, who brought in a number of impressive summer signings, had high hopes that they could break the top three this season but were simply not at the races from the first minute, with the Hoops taking the lead almost instantly.

Head coach Dean Gibson said the result was “difficult to put into words”, admitting that he “felt let down” by the performance and that his “pride was hurt”.

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For last season’s champions Rangers, the campaign began in lethal fashion. The Blue Belles hit double figures to blow away SWPL newcomers Glasgow Women 14-0 to the delight of the 700+ crowd.

A brace from Kayla McCoy followed by strikes from Tessel Middag, Chelsea Cornet, Rachel McLauchlan and Nicola Docherty had given Rangers a 6-0 lead at the break, before captain Kathryn Hill, Jodi McLeary and doubles from Kirsty Howat, Lizzie Arnot and Brogan Hay added to their tally in the second-half.

The Gers, who will play their games at Clyde’s Broadwood Stadium this term, described his side’s performance as “professional” and “disciplined”.

Title hopefuls Glasgow City also made an impressive start to the league campaign, brushing aside Debbi McCulloch’s top four hopefuls Spartans 7-0 at a packed out Petershill Park.

A hat-trick from Irish international Clare Shine was complimented by goals from Claire Walsh, Kinga Kozak, Lauren Davidson and Abbi Grant as City’s new look side eye a response to their first trophy-less season in 15 years.

On the win, goalscorer Shine said: “That’s my job as a striker, to score as many goals as I can.

"Our objective every week is to come away with three points, and that’s one down. We’ve a lot more games to come ahead of us, but we’ll take it one game at a time”.

In the Capital, summer signing Georgia Timms had a dream debut, as her hat-trick helped Eva Olid’s Hearts down Partick Thistle 3-1 at the Oriam, while last season’s bottom side Hamilton put on an outstanding display to beat Aberdeen 3-1 at New Douglas Park thanks to goals from Chloe Muir, Josi Giard and loanee Olivia Potter.

Elsewhere, newcomers Dundee United ground out a 1-1 draw with Motherwell.