Partick Thistle v Celtic – Match Preview, Team News, Kick-off Time and Where to Watch | OneFootball

Celtic FC Women are back to domestic action later today as they take on Partick Thistle at the home of Kirkintilloch Rob Roy…

After progressing to Round 2 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League with hard-earned, impressive victories against both KuPS and FC Gintra, the Celts will be looking to collect three points to the league campaign this afternoon.

Partick Thistle currently sit sixth in the SWPL table with seven points, having won two of their games, drawn one and lost three. Last Sunday, they saw off Motherwell at Fir Park, with former Celt Tiree Burchill getting her name on the scoresheet. This is set to be a tough game as we go head-to-head with Brian Graham’s side.

Elena Sadiku spoke to the media, including of course The Celtic Star, before the game. She said: “I respect Thistle, I respect Brian as a coach. They’re a difficult team to play against because they’re very aggressive, they make sure that they work for each other, they have a cohesive group.

“We know it’s going to be tough but I also know what quality we have in our team so hopefully we can hurt them and make sure they can’t hurt us. We just need to be ready for the challenge and hopefully we are. We should be.”

The Celtic FC Women head coach also spoke about the success in the Champions League, saying: “For me, this is already success because we’ve never been into Round Two before. They should be very proud of that. There’s still a week or so before that game so I really want to focus on Thistle, but we all know what it means to make it to this stage, to play against the best teams out in Europe.

“We already know it’s going to be difficult just playing against Vorskla Poltava but that’s a dream and for me, I want my players to dream big and try to make sure that their dreams come true. I’m going to make sure we do everything we can to be as successful as possible.”

And on the draw, she said: “I’m not going to say anything else other than getting Benfica or Twente or another team would probably be a bigger challenge when it comes to what they’ve achieved and what they’ve done out in Europe. Benfica have been in the group stage I don’t know how many years in a row.

“We need to respect the opponents that we’re going to play against. I think I saw somewhere in the ranking that they’re ranked number 25 and us is like 82, and they have more Champions League points than we have. They have more experience of this than we have. And they also have full international team players from Ukraine in that team so they know each other really well.

“It’s going to be a challenge, no matter if we had played Benfica or another team. I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy but there’s an opportunity for us to take and we’re going to make sure we’re going to be ready. And to be ready, we need to focus on the next coming games.”

Team News

Elena Sadiku confirmed that Luana Muñoz and Chloe Logan remain unavailable for selection. It seems that Muñoz could be back sooner rather than later though. Chloe Craig is out with a ruptured ACL and will be on the sidelines for the rest of the season, a huge loss that one.

On a more positive note there are also two new additions to the squad in Morgan Cross and Emma Lawton.

Sadiku spoke on the new signings, saying: “Lawton has been on my radar for a while now so I’m very happy that she’s here now.

“Cross was mainly highlighted after we played against them [Motherwell]. I thought she was great and she was a constant threat against us. Even though we were the dominant team, she had something that I really liked. I’ve been trying to see her play the games after and she’s a player that I want my players to be as well.

“I want them to be hungry, fearless, and she always gives her best, you can see that in every situation. She never gives up and she always pushes to be the best she can be, and it’s exactly the same thing with Lawton so I’m very happy with the two players coming in.

“They’re the type of players we want to bring in as well. They’re both Scottish, they’re both under-23s internationals. We want to make sure we can help them to develop further and bring them up to the full squad.”

Player’s View

Amy Gallacher spoke to Celtic TV to preview the upcoming game. She said: “[Expecting] a hard test. It’s always a hard game against them. Graham’s got them well-drilled. They’re a good team, a hard team to play against. It’ll be a hard game but hopefully we can get the three points.

“One game at a time. We know we’ve got a tough run incoming but one game at a time. Focus on the league first and then we’ll take what comes after that.”

Match Officials

Connor Ashwood takes the whistle for this tie, assisted by Kai Hannah and Stuart Christie.

Kick-off Time

Partick Thistle vs Celtic FC Women kicks off at 4:10pm at the Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex, the home of Kirkintilloch Rob Roy and located at 72 Donaldson St, Kirkintilloch, Glasgow G66 1XS.

Where to Watch

If you can make the game get along and support the Ghirls,  tickets are priced at £8 for adults, £6 for concessions and FREE for Under 16s and you can order online using this link:

https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/Tickets/SelectType?fixtureId=7402

You can watch this game live on BBC Alba.

Score Prediction

I predict a 3-0 victory for the Celts, while our Editor reckons it will be a 5-1 Celtic victory.

I just think that we’ll really push on domestically now after our European success in Round 1 of the UWCL.

COYGIG

Jessica Elliott

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