Glasgow City & Rangers seek cup cheer after title frustration

[L-R] Glasgow City's Jo Love, head coach Leanne Ross, Rangers manager Jo Potter and Nicola Docherty

Women's Scottish Cup final: Glasgow City v Rangers

When: Sunday 25 May Where: Hampden Park, Glasgow Kick-off: 14:00 BST

Coverage: Watch live on BBC One Scotland and BBC Sport website & app

One could call it the Consolation Cup final. Neither Glasgow City or Rangers would thank you for it though.

Both teams had their eyes on the ultimate prize – the SWPL league title, but Hibernian beat them to it.

That blow was cushioned for City, who finished second to earn a place in Champions League qualifying. No such reward for Rangers in third.

Yet a Scottish Cup win for Rangers at Hampden on Sunday would secure a second successive cup double. No mean feat.

A trophy and a Champions League place would, by most metrics, be judged a good season for City.

"This club is synonymous with lifting trophies," said City head coach Leanne Ross. "It's something that we pride ourselves on in terms of being in the last stages of competitions and being up there fighting right until the end. So, of course, any trophy lift is special.

"The Scottish Cup in itself is a special competition, especially to the Scottish players and staff. It's something that we've grown up with and the fact that we're now able to play at the national stadium as well just adds a little bit more excitement."

Ross acknowledges both teams will be "very disappointed" after missing out on the title to surprise victors Hibs.

"It was a tight fight between all the teams in that top half of the table," she said. "It was a difficult season and obviously neither of us have reached the objective of winning the title.

"The next best thing for us was obviously that second place and guaranteed European football. So, yes, we've come out on top there. But there's still disappointment within our camp."

Having spent many hours pouring over footage of the 1-0 defeat by Hibs at Ibrox that ultimately scuppered Rangers' championship bid, head coach Jo Potter says looking forward to the final has saved them from what would have been an "horrendous week".

Potter explained: "We can't make up for what happened in the league. We don't shy away from that. Yes, there was a big trophy on the line and we didn't manage to turn up and get that one over the line.

"If we'd have won a treble, I'd have said that would have been unreal, It would have been out of this world. We were so close, but it wasn't meant to be. So we've got to make sure that we're going after a cup double. We've got three trophies in under two years right now, and we want another one.

"Switching our mindset from the agony of defeat and losing a league title to try and go on and win another cup final is night and day."

City edge head-to-head this season

Although Rangers beat Hibs convincingly in the Sky Sports Cup final, Potter admits her side have underperformed in other big matches this season.

"Last season our head-to-heads against our rivals wasn't a problem," she said. "We let ourselves down in other games, This year it's been the complete opposite.

"We can't play against Hibs four times in the league and only score one goal and get one point from those four games. That's where we fell short."

City, who won this tournament seven times between 2009 and 2019, edged the head-to-head with Rangers in the league this season with two wins to Rangers one, the other game being a draw.

Ross is not reading too much into the stats though other than to predict an enthralling finale to the season.

"It's two teams that like to play football," she said. "We know it's going to be on a massive pitch with a great atmosphere and I think the spectators are in for a really competitive game."