The Rangers Women have lifted the Sky Sports Cup by beating SWPL rivals Hibs to make history in the first-ever SWPL fixture broadcast by Sky Sports.
A long-range stunner from Lizzie Arnot opened the scoring and was a superb goal to mark the occasion with Kirsty Howat adding the second later in the second half at Tynecastle.
The Sky Sports Cup victory is symbolic of the progress in the Rangers Women squad, with the team also the SWPL champions and being praised after the game as the “best team this league has seen” by Hibs manager Dean Gibson [Scotsman].
Women’s football north of the border continues its impressive development over the last few seasons and Rangers have been at the forefront after professionalising the club’s women department.
That investment and encouragement is certainly paying dividends and Rangers Women manager Malky Thomson claimed that the team has made “history” by lifting the Sky Sports Cup.
“It was great to make a bit of history, to be part of such a willing group that have got there just now is great,” said Thomson [Rangers].
“I think you can see that, when we have the environment and facilities, a big grass pitch, we want to play football. We want to grow the women’s game and put it on the stage.
“It was great that Sky Sports covered it and hopefully we’ve given a good account of ourselves and shown a good product on the pitch.”
Rangers women mark “milestone” Sky Sports Cup clash with victory
The Rangers Women victory also comes after the game enjoyed solid build-up from Sky Sports as a broadcaster with a higher level of exposure brought to the game than ever before.
Ahead of the game, SWPL managing director Fiona McIntyre praised the Sky Sports Cup coverage and also reflected on the increase in professionalism in the women’s game in Scotland
“It’s also a massive milestone for women’s football in Scotland,” said McIntyre [Sky Sports].
“It wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t have any broadcast coverage of the game; we didn’t have any professional players, and in a relatively short space of time we’ve now got a lot of professional players playing here in Scotland.
“To have the coverage from Sky – and it’s not just about Sunday in that broadcast – all week we’ve seen the build-up across Sky Sports News and the social media channels, so it’s just been a fantastic week for us and a huge milestone for women’s football in Scotland.”
The Sky Sports Cup champions Rangers are not going to stop here either; the women will have their eyes set on yet more glory with the club currently 2nd in the SWPL, two points behind Glasgow City as the club aims to retain their title.
Meanwhile, one English club’s fans have been struggling to deal with the biggest news coming out of Rangers recently.