SWPL
Sunday, April 20, 2025
K Park

MOTHERWELL…0

CELTIC…1

(McAneny 64)

Celtic FC Women returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon, running out 1-0 winners against Motherwell.

A superb strike from Maria McAneny was enough to seal all three points for the Hoops at K Park.

Rounding off what has been a busy week with two draws against Rangers and Hibernian, the Celts were aiming to get their first three points of the post-split fixtures.

Elena Sadiku made two changes to her side in the forward line, bringing in Murphy Agnew and Saoirse Noonan to replace Natalie Ross and Kit Loferski.

And throughout the afternoon Agnew looked to cause danger down the right-hand side, making runs in behind the Motherwell defence.

Early on in the match, the American was almost on target, meeting a delivery from Lucy Ashworth-Clifford inside the area.

Although she was able to connect well with the ball, she ultimately couldn’t hit the target with her strike.

It was a dominant opening 45 minutes for the Celts, who were searching for the breakthrough on what was a sunny day in East Kilbride.

Emma Lawton came closest in the first half, striking a low powerful effort towards goal, which went just narrowly wide of the target.

The Ghirls were looking to stretch the Well defence with a number of runs in behind. Alongside Agnew, both Noonan and Amy Gallacher were unfortunate not to be found with some clever runs into the box.

Heading into the break all square, the Hoops would have been looking to test the Motherwell goalkeeper on more occasions going into the second 45 minutes.

And that was the case in the early stages of the half, with Noonan meeting an early cross inside the area from Agnew.

On this occasion, it was comfortably held by the home goalkeeper. But the Celts were beginning to try and threaten the Well goal.

The breakthrough for Celtic did finally come just beyond the hour mark as Maria McAneny grabbed her 13^th goal of the season in style.

Having won a free-kick around 25-yards from goal, the midfielder stepped up to take the set piece herself, tucking the ball into the bottom corner, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.

That goal seemed to spark a little bit more life into Celtic, who continued to push in the latter stages of the second half.

On two occasions, Murphy Agnew did well to cut inside her marker before striking towards goal. But those efforts were blocked or saved well.

Substitute Morgan Cross was also unfortunate not to add to the scoring with an effort on her left foot from range, which was tipped over the crossbar brilliantly.

Although the Celts couldn’t add to the scoring, it was an important victory to get back to winning ways after a tough run of form in recent weeks.

The Ghirls will look to build on that result in the coming weeks, with their next outing coming on Wednesday, April 30 as they welcome Hearts to New Douglas Park.

CELTIC: Daughety, Lawton (Smith 57), Clark, Bruna, Barclais, Momo, McAneny, Gallacher (Cavanagh 81), Agnew (90+2’), Ashworth-Clifford (Cross 57), Noonan (Harrison 57)

Subs: Rodgers, Ross, M. Carstens, Dawson

McAneny strike seals victory as Ghirls return to winning ways