Jo Potter says every Rangers game a cup final after statement win over Glasgow City - SWPL round up

Jo Potter urged her side to believe they are good enough to be champions after they claimed a statement 4-1 win over Glasgow City.

The result takes them seven points clear of the current SWPL champions, although Celtic remain hard on their heels - their 5-0 win keeps them just one behind Rangers. For Glasgow City, the gap of seven points between themselves and Rangers and six between themselves and Celtic looks ominous.

They have now lost to both Old Firm sides either side of the international window. Rio Hardy had given Rangers the lead from the spot before Lauren Davidson levelled the scores before the interval. Rangers, however, steamrolled their way past City with a dominant second-half display with goals from Lizzie Arnot, Chelsea Cornet and Mia McAulay.

Potter believes the nature of the win as much as the win itself was huge for the league leaders as they head into the final strait. She said: "I think it is massive. We say week in, week out how we want to be consistent and we want to perform and prove that we are the best.

"I said to the girls that the moment we start believing we are the best is when we will see our true selves. I believe we are the best. I think they do but it is taking some time for it to come through. They have to take heart from performances and results like this because it is not an easy feat to beat Glasgow City 4-1 with some excellent goals. It is a big win ticked off for us.

“It is each game as it comes now. People thought I was joking when I said it was one game at a time. We need to be fully focused for every game and each game is a cup final now. This one was big mentally.”

City manager Leanne Ross could not hide her frustration at what she described as a "collapse" that have left the reigning champions toiling to keep pace at the top. "It is going to be very difficult,” said Ross. “But we need to be professional and we need to keep fighting. There are seven games left so we just need to fight for every point.

“We collapsed in the second-half and Rangers took advantage of that. They are a very good team and we can’t allow them that time and space in the wide areas to go and get those finishes and then to lose a goal from a set-piece is also disappointing.

“But, for the players now, it is about them being professional footballers and having that professional pride to step back on the pitch and fight for every point that is still available.

“We tried to make positive changes but the girls know in terms of individual performances and as a collective that the second-half was nowhere near good enough for Glasgow City.”

Celtic were comfortable 5-0 winners over Thistle to keep up the pressure on Rangers. Caitlin Hayes sent Celtic into an early lead before Natasha Flint and Murphy Agnew bagged a brace apiece.

"We need to win every game, if we do that we'll win the league,” said goalscorer Agnew. "We always know how our opponents do and we always want to match them, keep up with the pace, I think we proved that today. Petershill is a really tough place to come to, Partick Thistle are a really difficult team to play against and we wanted to put them away early.”

It remains as tight at the bottom end of the table. Dundee United and Hamilton Accies both lost – Accies squandered a 2-1 lead against Aberdeen to end up losing 3-2 while Motherwell beat Dundee United 2-1. Montrose beat Spartans 2-1.