View: Rangers Women can inflict more misery on history-chasers Glasgow City in SWPL Cup final

Rangers Women will hope to secure a fourth consecutive Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup against high-flying Glasgow City on Sunday.

Glasgow have been hugely impressive in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, going unbeaten in their first 20 league matches with 15 wins and five draws.

However, rivals Rangers ended that run dramatically on Sunday when Katie Wilkinson’s 91st-minute penalty secured them a 1-0 win.

That victory closed the gap to the league leaders to five points, with Rangers a point adrift of Celtic and Hearts in second and third, respectively.

As Rangers prepare to lock horns with Glasgow again at Motherwell’s Fir Park, history is on the line for both teams.

Rangers aiming for fourth SWPL Cup triumph

Rangers have won the last three editions of this competition, but before that, they had never come out on top in the SWPL Cup.

Now, they are aiming for their fourth consecutive one and first under head coach Leanne Crichton.

And despite beating Glasgow just a few days ago, she doesn’t think that will have much bearing on Sunday’s final.

“The sides are probably pretty evenly matched when you look at the style and the identity of both groups, and you’ve seen that in the games, there’s been real fine margins going right back to the first game at Ibrox,” she told BBC Sport.

“I don’t think there’ll be any advantage, and [last Sunday’s result] won’t mean a single thing with regards to Glasgow City.

“I say the performance for us was as good as we’ve seen this season, so we need more of that, we need that consistency, we need that same energy coming off the back of a tough run of games.”

However, if City come out on top, they will match Hibernian’s record of lifting this trophy for the seventh time, as they seek to end their longest run without winning the competition, with their last triumph coming back in 2015.

Rangers’ path to this point

Rangers began their SWPL Cup campaign with a thumping 12-0 win over St. Johnstone, before easing past Partick Thistle 3-0.

They then had a much tougher test in the semi-finals against rivals Celtic.

Goalkeeper Jenna Fife was the star as she saved a penalty in regular time for the 3-3 draw, before keeping out two spotkicks in the shootout.

If Rangers emerge victorious on Sunday, they can match the records of Celtic and Hibernian by winning four on the spin. Crichton, who has a great deal of affection for Rangers, would dearly love that.

Glasgow, on the other hand, beat Hamilton 5-0 before downing Aberdeen 2-0. They then squeaked past Hibernian with a 2-1 victory to set up this enticing clash.

Ahead of the final, Glasgow boss Leanne Ross added, “We’ve had a great start to the season in terms of the way that we’ve played, the results that we’ve had.

“We’re sitting at the top of the league at the moment, we’ve got ourselves into the League Cup final, so it’s the first opportunity to get their hands on silverware, and the players are hungry for it.

“There’s a hunger to lift every trophy that’s available to us. When you’ve got a chance to go and lift a trophy, it’s a wee bit extra motivation.”

Rangers will be desperate to keep their run of silverware going.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.