It wasn’t Hurricane Ashley but Hurricane City that Dundee United had to worry about as Leanne Ross’ side battered the Tannadice outfit 13-0 – and went to the top of the SWPL in the process.
It is the biggest scoreline in the league this term and regardless of the optics around such imbalanced results, it will matter not for City. With Hibs and Rangers sharing the points at Meadowbank it means that City open up a one-point lead as they leapfrog Jo Potter’s side into pole position. With United goalkeeper Beth Rennie sent off inside the opening minutes from bringing own Brenna Lovera, City took full advantage against a youthful backline.
Lisa Evans, Katie Lockwood, Lisa Forrest, Natalia Wrobel, Aleigh Gambone, Sofia Maatta all scored singles with Lovera and Nicole Kozlova netting a double each. Emily Whelan claimed a hat-trick. At Meadowbank, Hibs took a first-half lead against Rangers from the spot after Eilidh Adams netted but they missed a second penalty in the latter stages of the game. The weather conditions played a part with the ball repeatedly blown off the spot. It did enough to distract Adams whose attempt was stopped by Jenna Fife.
They were made to pay for their profligacy with Rangers grabbing a 93rd minute leveller when Rio Hardy was first to react after Katie Wilkinson’s free-kick had been saved by Erin Clachers. It keeps the Easter Road side in fourth spot, with Celtic now level on points with them.
Elena Sadiku’s side got back to winning ways with 1-0 win over Spartans that was more anxious than it needed to be. The Hoops opened the scoring through Morgan Cross after just nine minutes but could not build on the positive start.
“We are happy with the win but none of us are really happy with the performance today,” said Sadiku. “The reaction should be the opposite when we score an early goal – we scored early and everyone should be buzzing and excited to get another but that was not the reaction that I saw.
“We were not us today. There were too many mistakes with the ball and we didn’t look like us which is a frustration. But we will take the win. It shouldn’t be a reason why we don’t show up. It shows that something is not switched on and that needs to be better.”
Eva Olid’s side stay in third after a 3-0 win over Montrose. Bayley Hutchison claimed a double while Monica Forsyth was also on the scoresheet. Brian Graham’s side claimed a 2-0 win over Queen’s Park at Petershill courtesy of goals from Caley Gibb and Tiree Burchill.