Three Takeaways from the Weekend's SWPL Action

Jo Potter shuffles her deck as Rangers and Glasgow City draw, The Young Team takeover and Montrose's adjustment to life in the SWPL continues

In a weekend that saw two of the title favourites go head to head we look at three talking points from the weekend’s SWPL action:

• Despite what I said earlier…Rangers line up 4-4-2 for City clash, as Jo Potter shows there will be more than one string to her tactical bow in her first head to head with Leanne Ross.

• 17-year-old Mia McAulay scores again on a banner weekend for a number of the SWPL Young Team, but how will coaches up and down the table manage young talent as the season picks up momentum?

• Montrose continue to adjust after making the leap, but how big is the jump between SWPL2 and Scotland’s top tier?

Rangers and Glasgow City share the spoils at Broadwood (Credit: SWPL/Colin Poultney)

Despite what I said earlier…Rangers line up 4-4-2 for City clash

You have to say fair play to Jo Potter, who sent me to the shops with the way she set her side up against Glasgow City on Sunday. Having started with the same personnel that secured a 2-1 victory over Hearts in midweek I was all set once again to jump aboard the Nicola Docherty CDM Express. However, as the Rangers captain made her way back from the centre circle and into her starting position it became obvious that Rangers had shifted to a 4-4-2 for the match against their protracted title rivals.

It was a move that saw Kirsty MacLean drop back from the ten position and into the centre of the midfield alongside Chelsea Cornet with Mia McAulay (more on her later) and Jodi McLeary backed up by Rachel McLauchlan and Nicola Docherty on either side. Michelle Colson and Kathy Hill rounding out the centre of the defence.

Speaking in the post match interviews Potter acknowledged that the change came in part as a way to demonstrate that her side’s style of play won’t be predictable although it was a tactic her opposite number Leanne Ross (who set her City side up in a more familiar looking 4-1-4-1) said she thought could come to pass during her own post-match briefing.