Ghirls kick-off the season with victory over Glasgow City
SWPL Sunday, August 16, 2026 Petershill Park
GLASGOW CITY …1
(Forrest 10)
CELTIC …2
(O.G 31, Morgan 40)
Celtic FC Women kicked off the new season with a 2-1 victory over Glasgow City at Petershill Park on Sunday afternoon.
Marking their return to competitive action, the Ghirls did so in style, coming from behind to seal three points against their city rivals.
It has been a busy summer for Grant Scott’s side, with plenty of new faces joining the group, and a hard pre-season period.
The Hoops were handed a tough start to the 2026/27 campaign, with their opener coming at Petershill against Glasgow City.
The Celtic boss named four new faces in his starting line-up, with Addie Handley, Fi Morgan, Hannah Jordan and Izzy Fisher making their competitive debuts for the club.
With so many new faces in the squad, which included a further four on the bench, it took a little bit of time for Celtic to settle into the match.
In the opening proceedings, it was Glasgow City who enjoyed the lion share of possession, with the Celts unable to get their press right in the first few minutes.
The home side took advantage of that start, opening the scoring inside ten minutes of the new campaign.
After taking a nice first touch inside the area, Lisa Forrest got ahead of Adelaide Gay just in time to tuck home the opening goal of the match.
The Celts look to respond quickly from that setback, going straight on the front foot from kick-off.
Hannah Jordan, who worked incredibly hard all afternoon looked to find space to get the Hoops’ first shot off on goal, but the ball was nicked away just in time from the forward.
Following their slow start, Celtic began to settle into the game more, and managed to find a leveller on the half hour mark.
With their first corner of the game, Hannah Luke’s delivery caused chaos in the Glasgow City box, with the ball deflected off a City player which diverted it onto the post, before it was bundled home, with the last touch appearing to come off the home side’s goalkeeper.
Throughout the afternoon, Celtic looked a huge threat from corner, with Fi Morgan in particular being a dominant force in the Glasgow City box.
And the defender was on hand to fire the Ghirls in front, scoring on her competitive debut for the club.
This time, it was sent in from the right-hand side by Amy Gallacher, before being headed home at the front post by the Northern Ireland internationalist.
Heading into the half, the Celts had done well to recover from a difficult start to the match and find themselves in front.
That looked to give Grant Scott’s side confidence, with Celtic being the team in the ascendancy in the second half.
Glasgow City did come close early on though, striking the crossbar with an effort from distance, which eventually went over the top.
However, from there it looked like Celtic would be the one to grab the all-important next goal in the game.
Izzy Fisher came close with a volleyed effort at the back post, whilst Addie Handley was also unlucky not to hit the target on the stretch from Jordan’s cross.
Fi Morgan was also unfortunate not to find the net once more, this time with a strike from the edge, which went just by the post.
There were also more debuts on the day for Celtic, with Casey Howe coming on to make her first appearance, whilst Chloe Arthur marked her return to competitive action.
Howe looked to get off the mark in front of goal but was unlucky not to get her shot off after skipping past her mark.
Ultimately, it was Celtic who would come out on top, picking up a hugely valuable three points in their opening match of the campaign.
Next up for the Ghirls, is a first home match of the season as they welcome Montrose to Kirkintilloch next Sunday!
Fixtures
Glasgow City Women Vs. Celtic Women - Sun, Aug 16th 2026, 16:10 Final score: 1 - 2