Women's Preview: Celtic vs Saints
Southampton FC Women travelled up to Glasgow earlier this week ahead of a tough pre-season test against Scottish Women’s Premier League side Celtic on Saturday morning.
Celtic vs Saints
Pre-season friendly
Barrowfield Training Ground
Saturday 16th July, 10am BST
This will be the first competitive game that Marieanne Spacey-Cale’s side have played since their play-off win against Wolves in late May, and with several new additions to the squad, it will provide an opportunity to bed in those new players against a top-flight side.
New signings Paige Peake, Beth Lumsden, Sophie Harris and Megan Wynne are all part of the travelling squad, and will likely be putting on a Saints shirt for the first time against Celtic.
Celtic, managed by former Southampton and Lewes Women man Fran Alonso, will provide a new challenge for the newly promoted Saints. The Celts boast Champions League experience and come into the new season off the back of a successful 2021/22 campaign where they won the SWPL Cup and Scottish Women’s Cup, beating Glasgow City 1-0 and 3-2 in the respective finals, and secured third place in the league.
The game will be taking place behind closed doors but fans can follow the action on the
.
“I think it’s a different type of win this weekend. It’s winning around team building and getting the new players settled in. It’s more about us than what we’re going to do against them.
“We’ve had a good couple of weeks back in training now, but there’s no expectation that this will be a full 90 minutes of high energy, as it’s about getting minutes in the bank against a good side. Celtic are a good side and I think they’re in a similar position when it comes to pre-season.
“For us, the wins are team bonding, team building, away from everything so that we can have four days with everybody just settling in together. We’ll be getting on the pitch and just being as good as we can be at the minute considering where we are in pre-season.”
