RANGERS marked their return to action with an emphatic 6-0 win over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Gas Women’s Scottish Cup at Broadwood this afternoon.
Three goals in either half set the Light Blues on their way as they marked their first outing of the year in style and now await their fate in the draw for the quarter-finals this week.
The former Scotland international named two changes to her side for their first match of 2026, with recently recalled loanee Lily Boyce and May Cruft in from the off in place of Jess Pegram and Shin Ji Kim. New signing Calliste Brookshire was also part of the matchday squad for the first time since her move as a free agent to the club on Friday.
Rangers looked to get off to a fast start in their first outing of the calendar year. Cruft, who back in the lineup was getting some early touches as she found Mia McAulay. It was a great initial touch from the young winger to get round Killie’s Lauryn Reside, she cut inside from the left and tried her luck, but Holly Kerrigan between the posts was level to it to turn it away.
The hosts went close on a couple occasions thereafter as they threatened to take an early lead. Eilidh Austin was well advanced down the right and looked to pick out Katie Wilkinson inside the box, but Taylor McGlashan did well on the cover. From the resulting corner it was played low to Laura Rafferty, who was denied a second goal for the club by Reside who cleared the low shot off the line.
Crichton’s side then made their early pressure count as they made the breakthrough 12 minutes into the tie. McAulay, who was lively off the left in the early stages, worked the ball onto her left side and whipped it into the front post as Wilkinson met it to turn it home with her head to put her side ahead.
Killie had their first moment of their own as they almost pounced on some sloppiness in the Rangers backline. Abby Robinson won it high and touched it round and away from Rafferty, however the angle was tight as she tried her luck but Jenna Fife was comfortably level to at the near post.
The Light Blues then punished some loose play from Killie in their own backline as McAulay added a goal to her assist on the day. She won it in the final third and jinked inside and fired a shot in via the near post to double the lead in Cumbernauld.
After a quiet period in the game the Gers almost made it three on the counter 10 minutes later. After a Killie corner, Rangers won it and broke down the left, McAulay found the underlapping Nicola Docherty who was made strides from defence, she cut it back for Laura Berry but her effort was fired over the bar from inside the area.
There was still time before the break for the hosts to add a third as Quinty Sabajo’s strike from range was too powerful for Kerrigan as the home side put themselves well in control heading into the interval.
It was a quiet start to the second half at Broadwood. A delivery from the left side was almost turned into her own net by Arwen O’Brien before Wilkinson fired a shot over the bar after an Austin cut back minutes later.
Rangers fans then got a first sight of their new signing Cal Brookshire, who was introduced as part of a triple sub on the hour-mark. The winger was then involved in the fourth goal as the hosts pulled away in the tie. She picked the ball up on the left before sliding in the underlapping Docherty, the captain clipped the ball to the back post and Austin was there to head home at the back post to put clear daylight between the teams.
The American almost got off the mark after cutting in off the left before her right footed shot hit the side netting before Killie captain McLaughlin almost diverted an Austin pull back into her own net which came off the post and went behind for a corner much to her relief.
In the next phase of play, the Gers did get a fifth on the day and Berry was on hand to find the net after a frustrating personal afternoon in front of goal. A corner was met by Rafferty with her shot deflecting straight into the path of the striker, who made no mistake in slotting it through the legs of Kerrigan to make it five.
She almost doubled her tally for the day after getting on the end of sub Fallon Connolly-Jackson’s cut back, before fellow sub Shin Ji Kim rounded off the scoring emphatically with a fantastic first time finish into the roof of the net to mark the Gers’ return to action in style.
RANGERS: Fife, Docherty (Connolly-Jackson, 74), Rafferty, Sabajo (Lafaix, 61), McAulay (Brookshire, 61), Austin, Berry, Cruft (Shin Ji, 74), McLeary, Wilkinson (Mengwen, 61), Boyce
SUBS: Ivarsdottir, Black
KILMARNOCK: Kerrigan, McTear (Cullie, 74), Martin, O’Brien, McGlashan, Gray (Burns, 61), Robinson (Cowan, 80), Crainie (Canavan, 61), McLaughlin, Reside, Stout (Hanvey, 80)
SUBS: Currie, Osbourne, McKean, Watt
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