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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Alison McConnell

Athlone Town 0-3 Glasgow City: Leanne Ross praises professional showing

Glasgow City manager Leanne Ross praised the Petershill side for their professional showing against Athlone Town as they booked their place in the second qualifying round of the Europa Cup with a 6-0 aggregate win. 

City will be Scotland’s only representatives in Europe after Hibs lost 5-1 on aggregate to Inter Milan.

For Ross, though, the European adventure continues with City now eagerly anticipating Friday’s draw as they await to see who comes out of the hat. 

“That’s what we said last week, that the tie wasn’t done,” said Ross. “So to come over here and put on a professional performance like that was very pleasing.  

“It was a strong performance which we hadn’t been working on since last week so it was pleasing to see that we took a lot of what we had worked at on board and some of the football we played was excellent.

“The players are looking forward to the draw now as the European journey continues. We will be training when the draw is made but we are all excited for it.

“We are just delighted to be in there now and it doesn’t matter who we get. We know there are some big names that we could come up against but this is where we want to be and the players deserve it after two strong performances.”

Emily Wheelan had got the ball rolling for City when she netted in her home country before the break to give Leanne Ross’ side the goal that effectively put the tie to bed.

Kimberley Smit, Linda Motlhalo and Erín McLaughlin all had chances to add to the scoreline before Nicole Kozlova came off the bench to add two quick goals in as many minutes in the latter stages of the game.

The striker had a penalty saved but headed home the rebound before then netting from close range. 

There was no surprise that Hibs’ European adventure came to an end after they lost 1-0 to Inter Milan at Easter Road on the night. 

Hibs managed to keep hold of the game without being able to force their way back into it with the Italians content to keep possession.



Hibs keeper Noa Schumacher was dismissed in the closing stages after rushing out of her box and taking Inter Milan’s Benedetta Gilonna out.

Grant Scott was forced to put on 17-year-old Rowenna Armitage with the teenager making just her second appearance for the club.

"When you have a dressing room of frustrated players it speaks volumes for how we played," said Hibs coach Joelle Murray. "We didn't deserve that.

"Grant spoke in the dressing room and Noa was very down. She played the moment and the situation and did what she thought was right but she has nothing to be down about.

"She can hold her head high.”

Masa Tomasevic netted in added time when she tucked an effort away from close range. 

It was salt in the wound for Hibs who will feel they gave a far better account of themselves in Leith than they did in Milan last week but, ultimately, it was always going to be too tough a scoreline to reverse. 

And Murray insisted that there was pride from Hibs at competing against Milan last night.

"The growth within a week has been fantastic,” she said. “We were more organised. We knew it wasn't right last week and we worked on it and they really took it on board.

"We are proud of the players but frustrated because we knew we were competing and we knew we were winning our individual battles. We made it difficult for them."

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