Three reasons to watch Women’s Scottish Cup final live on BBC

Glasgow City vs. Rangers in the women’s Scottish Cup final

Location: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: May 25, 2014 Kick-off: 14:00 BST

With Hibernian’s first title in 18 years, Rangers and Glasgow City’s rivals have another chance to add to their trophy collection on Sunday, despite Rangers and Glasgow City’s loss to the Scottish Women’s Premier League.

City, who won the Scottish Cup for the first time last year, will be hoping to win it again, while the Ibrox women, who won it for the first time last year, are also hoping to do the same after lifting the League Cup.

In recent years, the SWPL has experienced some incredible title showdowns, with goal difference separating the top two, last-minute heartache and joy, and City’s monopoly on success ending.

However, it seems to me that this season has been the best overall for drama and entertainment, with Hibs’ re-emergence and ultimate fairytale triumph, while city rivals Heart of Midlothian made further advances to ensure the top five were all taking points off each other.

An audience not typically interested in women’s basketball was drawn to the three-way battle that almost ended the title race. Fans of football can’t resist being drawn to a bloody high note.

On the back of their recent form, it would be foolish to attempt to predict the outcome, but City likely enter the game as a slight favorites.

Rangers are after all going for back-to-back cup doubles, and they haven’t lost a decisive game since 2023’s Scottish Cup final defeat at Celtic.

We should be in for a titanic tussle between two of the nation’s top rivals because only three points ultimately divided the SWPL’s two teams.

Rangers came from behind to defeat City just once all season, winning 2-1 at Petershill in mid-April.

However, City’s victory at the end of last month in the most recent meeting, even though it required a Brenna Lovera penalty, really hurt Rangers’ title hopes.

The only respectable victory for either team in this year’s head-to-head encounter was in December when a Natalia Wrobel hat-trick went unanswered for Leanne Ross’ City side.

These two have plenty to offer, and everyone wants to see goals, never more than in a cup final.

On their way to clinching the Champions League once more, City posted 107 points, only to be outscored by, as you’ve probably guessed, 139, despite failing to win the title.

The most deadly threat to goal is Rangers’ Katie Wilkinson, who has an astonishing 46 appearances in 39 games as of Sunday. Both teams have multiple threats in front of goal.

Rio Hardy (28 from 38) and Kirsty Howat (25 from 39) ably assist and assist the former Southampton forward. In addition to the most recent hat-trick against Aberdeen in the semi-final, Jane Ross, who is renowned for scoring goals, would love to bow out of football by scoring at least one more Hampden goals, as well as 88 of Howat’s eight goals in the Scottish Cup.

Nicole Kozlova, a City striker, also scored in the semi-final against Motherwell, and has since increased her total to 23 goals in her last six games, closely followed by the previously mentioned American striker Lovera, who has 20.

Both Katie Lockwood and Sofia Maatta, who were both losing finalists last year with Hearts, would go on to win another game at Hampden, and both would go on to double figures.

There are plenty of other players worth watching, not the least of whom are fit-again Poland international Wrobel and her fellow City midfielder, the American Aleigh Gambone, as well as Rangers’ Scotland midfielder Kirsty MacLean, who is a fantastic talent at only 20 years old.