KIRSTY HOWAT has expressed her delight at producing the match winning moment as her penalty was the difference as Rangers won the Glasgow Cup with a 2-1 victory over Celtic.
The game looked set to be heading for penalty kicks after Kirsty Maclean’s strike cancelled out Amy Gallacher’s opener from the spot at Broadwood before the Light Blues were awarded a penalty in injury time which the striker converted.
Speaking to RangersTV after the dramatic victory the 26-year-old admits it was a relief to see the ball hit the back of the net after she converted from 12 yards to claim the trophy for her side.
She said: “Kirsty usually assists me so it was kind of the other way around, the second one obviously the penalty Rachel has done really well to win it, I was a bit nervous but I was just delighted when I saw it hit the back of the net.
“It was tough, it always is against Celtic, a physical game, I think at this point in the season it was good to have that test, in the second half we put in a really good performance and probably came out deserved winners in the end.”
The striker says the victory shows the belief that head coach Jo Potter has installed in the side at this early stage and believes it will give them confidence claiming silverware at this early stage of the season for what lies ahead.
She added: “I think it is shown that we have belief, Jo has really installed that in us, we knew we can go out and put a performance in. I think second half we certainly showed that, you know when you put on a Rangers shirt you have got to fight right until the last minute and we done that today.
“Here at Rangers we want to win every piece of silverware that we can get, we have managed to do that today. It is a really positive thing especially this early on, the season has not even started yet, so to get a trophy in pre-season is great and we can really use that and push on this season.”
The Light Blues will now set off on a warm weather training camp in Spain and Howat is looking ahead to a productive week as they head into their final preparations before the start of the league season on August 13.
She added: “We are all really looking forward to it, we will rest up tomorrow and fly out on Monday. We will be working really hard out there and we have got a tough game against Levante as well, so it is just about building up the blocks ready for the season starting.”