Eddie Wolecki Black said changes were the difference as Glasgow City frightened the life out of Champions League quarter-finalists Arsenal, writes Colette Carr.

 

It was the battle of the champions on Sunday, with Scotland and England's top sides going head-to-head at Petershill Park.

 

The Gunners had blasted 17 goals past Celtic and Rangers over the weekend, but goals from Joanne Love and Leanne Ross had City threatening to cause a major upset.

 

The game had barely begun before the ball found the back of the net through Love, before Ross' penalty threatened to spoil the London sides' weekend.

 

Arsenal bounced back to win 4-2, but City's manager said his side proved a strong point to their English counterparts.

 

 

Under 15 Hamilton Accies Girls played host to a Glasgow City side in the second friendly of their preseason, following an 8-1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic two weekends ago.   

Hamilton started well, pressing forward straight away, and after a few minutes the home side began to force saves from the keeper repeatedly.   They found themselves having most of the possession and keeping the ball in the City half, despite their opposition’s efforts.  After 15 minutes, the scoring was opened, with Helana Montague collecting the ball, before turning, taking it a few yards, and placing a 25 yard rocket in the back of City’s net.  Accies continued to try to add to the score line, however, having said this, the visitors began to come more into the game, catching some of the Hamilton girls off guard.  Reacting well to this was sweeper Clare Campbell, who proved to be strong, with no fear in shutting down City’s advances.  Shortly after, half time came.

At the break, Coach William Brown, said, “I think a big factor is our positions have been switched about, a lot of girls are out of position because we only have eleven in our squad, which is a hindrance.  We started well, we were OK, but I’m surprised by the opposition, I think I underestimated them, but they’ve definitely came more into it, and if they got a goal it’s anyone’s game.  We’re doing well, but we could do much better, we’re struggling along at third gear, but we could move up to fourth or fifth.”

On Sunday, Hamilton Ladies continued an impressive start to their pre-season campaign with a resounding win over Scottish Cup finalists Hibernian.

 

Following on from a 4-0 win over Celtic reserves, the Accies were in confident form and again hit the goal trail.

 

Full match highlights here:-

 

Dim lights  

Four goals from Arsenal’s Jennifer Beattie, and a first international strike from Glasgow City winger Lisa Evans, gave Scotland Women a deserved win in their first match of 2012.

Beattie opened the scoring in 13 minutes, but the home side fought hard to get back into the game, and Sunderland’s Rachel Furness equalised just after half-time.

The game remained poised until late in the second half.

The introduction of Evans on 67 minutes gave Scotland an extra spark, and she fired Anna Signeul’s side into the lead again eight minutes later.

A flurry of late goals from Beattie put an extra gloss on the result, as Scotland got their preparation for this year’s Euro 2013 qualifiers off to the perfect start.