By Johnny Orr

The Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) is more competitive than ever this season, and Rangers women are aiming for a historic treble. With boss and former Lioness Jo Potter at the helm, the ladies have had fantastic success over the last two seasons, losing out on a treble last year to bitter rivals Celtic on the season’s final game after winning the Sky Sports Cup and the Scottish Women’s Cup.

The girls are now the only remaining undefeated side in the league, sitting in 2nd place one point behind Glasgow City. Potter is happy with the squad’s start to this season, she said: “Look we had a little blip with three draws but we’re still unbeaten and I’m really pleased with that, it puts us in a really healthy position. We’re in great form and the Celtic game came at a great time for us.” Jo is of course talking about the fantastic Old Firm win for the side away to their rivals back on November 17th, The girls edged out a dramatic game; winning 3-2 courtesy of a stunning match-winning volley by Chelsea Cornet.

26-year-old Cornet joined the game from the bench around the hour mark for her first minutes since August after returning from injury, she was also included in the Scotland squad this week for their upcoming crucial play-off matches against Finland and is hoping to make an impact. She said: ” I don’t think I’ve ever had a better week in football, to score the winner against Celtic is an amazing feeling and to be back in the international squad so soon is something I’m really grateful for.” Chelsea is not taking anything for granted and knows she’ll have to work hard to get minutes “I know there’s competition for places both at club and country but I’m not easing myself back into things. I want to be back in the starting eleven as soon as possible and the progress I’ve made in the last week really gives me that confidence.”

A motivator for the club is that Celtic (who won the league last year) are competing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) this year and are the first Scottish team ever to make the group stages. Jo highlights its importance for the club “It’s massive, what that can do for our budget, it’s very different finishing second and first. The monetary impact of making the UWCL is massive for the club and it certainly is a big incentive for us this season especially because we were so close last year.” Northern Ireland international Meghan Bell said: “Look it’s hard to watch Celtic play in these glamour ties when we know that could and should be us, but we’ve taken that personally and you best believe we’re winning that treble this year!”

Matches resume after the international break on the 11th of December and the side have a tough run of fixtures before the winter break, but they’re confident. Star striker Rio Hardy thinks the girls will be top of the tree at Christmas “It’s a tough run but one we’re looking forward to. We get the chance to leapfrog Glasgow City when we take them on and the girls are all really focused on each game.”

The Gers will also face Hibernian on that run who currently sit in fourth place, there has been a real push from both Edinburgh clubs to make their women’s sides more competitive in recent years and it has made for an extremely competitive league this year. Leah Eddie who signed for Rangers from Hibs in the summer thinks it’s fantastic for the Scottish game “The efforts from the two clubs have really stepped up and they both signed really well in the summer, of course, it doesn’t make our job any easier but for the growth of the game it’s great and we have really competitive matches almost every week now which is making us all better players.”