Emma Lawton eyes Old Firm cup glory I A Level Playing Field I Episode 22

Celtic defender Emma Lawton joins us ahead of the biggest game in the domestic calendar as the Hoops prepare to face Rangers in the Women's Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park this Sunday.

The Scotland international reflects on Celtic’s journey to the final, including a dramatic semi-final victory that booked their place on the big stage, and discusses the mindset within the squad heading into a high-stakes Old Firm showdown.

Lawton opens up on the challenge of facing a well-organised Rangers side, the importance of big-game mentality, and what it would mean to lift silverware at Hampden. She also shares insight into her own development over the past year and how the group is handling the pressure and excitement of a cup final occasion.

With rivalry, history, and a national trophy on the line, this is one of the standout fixtures in the Scottish women’s game and Emma Lawton takes us inside Celtic’s camp as they get ready for it.

In partnership with Zenith Coins. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to a level playing field sponsored by Nutmeg Magazine, the Scottish Football Quarterly. If you're looking for your next great football read, the World Cup special issue of Nutmeg Magazine is available to purchase now. You can order your copy at nutmegmagazine.co.uk to enjoy stories from Scotland's adventures on the greatest stage.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome back to Level Playing Field. I'm Cheryl Smith, joined as ever by Alison McConnell. Alison, we're almost at the end of a very, very long but exciting season. How are you? How are you holding up?

SPEAKER_02 0:33

I'm just about there. I'm ready for a break. I don't know. But you, Emma, are you ready for a break?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, I'm ready for a break. The league season is over. Hearts are the champions. We're used to drama in the final day of the season. It was dramatic, but in the most bizarre way possible, where Hearts win the title on the back of a derby defeat in Rangers, who just had to win to stay in the conversation, go down 6-0 to Glasgow City. So that's all done and dusted, and Eva Olid is off with the title. What's not done and dusted, obviously, is the Scottish Cup. And we're joined today by Celtic and Scotland defender Emma Lawton. Emma, delighted that you could join us today. Thanks for giving us a wee slice of your time, which I'm sure is a really, really busy week for you in the build-up to this final. Yeah, no problem at all. How do you just first of all generally just assess the season in terms of how it's been? It's not finished, we've got this this big game, and the outcome of that game could potentially change the view of the season. But just for you personally, how has it been for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, I think it's been a tough season for us. Um obviously the league campaign's not gone how we wanted it to. But yeah, this the Scottish Cup's really big for us, and it would probably give us a different outlook on the season if we can go and win that trophy on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

And it's it's actually like a really vital, a vital cup final for both teams. We know what this game is about in Glasgow, and you know, people would tune in to watch Rangers and Celtic play chess or tiddlywings or something. But when you look at the season, Rangers lost out in the chance of the title on the last day they got to the Sky Sports Cup final and lost. Celtics finishing fifth. Whatever team wins this trophy, I suppose, could point to the silverware and say, Well, we won one of the three trophies and it's it's somewhat a success, so that's how important it is in Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, I think so. I think obviously Rangers getting to the the League Cup final and coming second in the league, which means Champions League football for them, they've probably got somewhat of a positive um outcome already of the season. Obviously, they would have loved to have won it, but yeah, I think for both of us it's it's going to be crucial for the season, and yeah, whoever whoever wins it could probably argue that they've ended the season off better.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Am I right in thinking this is your first chance of seeing your silverware in your career?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Well, not my first chance. I played um part with part at thistle, but my first chance uh with Celtic is yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

What would it mean to you to go and and win a trophy and and lift the Scottish Cup?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, I think from a personal point of view, you want to win trophies, that's what you want to do, and I think I came to this club with the hope of that. So obviously it's been disappointing that this is my only first opportunity in my second season, but yeah, I think it would be really special to go and lift it with this group of girls.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Quite a few girls here that have won the the the Scottish Cup, quite a few still, obviously, in the squad. Kelly, of course, and Chloe, a few others. Like, does that experience you think help you going into a game of this magnitude?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, definitely. I think we've got a few um Scottish Cup winners in the group, and I think yeah, we'll lean on them this week and kind of learn from their experiences. And but it's also good having the players that have not done it before, they've got that hunger, that desire to go and win it for the first time. So it's probably quite a good mix we've got there now, and hopefully that'll let us win the cup on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

It's obviously it's a long time since Celtic beat Rangers in in any competitions going back two years. As players, is that something you feel as though you've got to address, you've got to think about, you maybe got to examine the reasons why, or is it a case of just thinking it's one game, we just need to focus on the game itself?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yeah, listen, I think it's probably a bit of an unwanted record that we've got there now against Rangers. We've not managed to beat them in such a long period of time, and probably could argue it gives Rangers that bit of an advantage, but also that bit of pressure we probably go in and nobody really expect us to win, but we know we've got the quality in there to beat them, and I think in quite a few of those games we've probably deserved the result, um, and we've just not managed to do it on the day. So I think we're definitely positive. We know we've got players that we can go and win the game, and yeah, hopefully we can do that. Is there maybe a a sense as well at your own to result in this game? I think potentially, but I think you just got to treat it like a one-off game, like almost forget all that history. It's at a neutral ground, it's at Hamden, so we both go in and we want to win the game, and and we think we've got enough to go and do it.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

You mentioned there playing at Hamden. What does it mean to you going and playing at the National Stadium? Obviously, you're you're no stranger to you've played there, of course, for Scotland. But for this game to take place at the National Stadium, how important is that do you think like when you would have been coming through as a as a really young player, as a kid coming through, what would it have mean to you, meant to you for somebody to say, well, when you get to the Scottish Cup final you're going to get a chance to go and play it at handed?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, I think it it's a really good um opportunity to go and play at the national stadium. I think for some of the girls that obviously we did it in the semi-final, but I think it was nice having that opportunity and yeah, it's a great stadium, it's the home of of Scotland, and yeah, it's really an honour to go and play there and hopefully we can we can use the pitch and use the grass well and go and win.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

You get any sort of special memories of Hamden growing up? Obviously, I know you've scored for Scotland at Hamden, but have you any memories growing up by even just going along to games and and watching games?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Um I think I just remember going to games with my my cousin and my uncle and my dad and stuff going to watch Scotland games and I remember doing tours of Hamden as well, and I just remember there was one time it was like a crossbar challenge in the back, and all the boys were up trying to hit the crossbar and all missed, and then I was last up and I hit the crossbar and everybody was just a bit like, oh a girl's hit the crossbar. So my mum always talks about that, she loved that moment, so uh yeah, things like that, it makes it even more special.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

It's time for our player of the week, sponsored by Nutmeg Magazine, the home of brilliant football stories. Check out the latest issue at nutmegmagazine.co.uk.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

This week's player of the week, sponsored by Nutmeg, goes to Glasgow City striker Lisa Forrest. She netted a heart trick in the 6-nil demolition of Rangers in the final SWPL game of the season. Congratulations, Lisa.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I thought you were going to hog the mic for the entire hour. So can we talk about the playing at Hamden? Because we've spoken about it on the podcast and we've spoken about it to different people in the in the game. And last week Kelly Clark was saying that she thinks that the Scottish Cup final deserves to be at the National Stadium because and the semi-finals, because you need to aspire to get to where you want it to be and the players deserve it. And Alison had made a good point that the most important people to ask about it are the players. I guess you've already kind of answered it, but what is it that makes it so special? Because I suppose from the outside, when you see Hamden and it's a vast stadium compared to like Safar Park and things like that, the criticism that people have is the optics of of how it looks and even the atmosphere of how it sounds sometimes. But as a player, why is it so important to you that it's there?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

I think it's just it makes it more of a special occasion. Like I know we've when we spoke about it for the semi-final and now the final, it it's the buzz of going to Hamden, it it's almost like a day out, if you will, and it's it's that opportunity to go and showcase at the probably the best stadium uh in the country, and just having that opportunity to do it like the men do, it just kind of brings the game up to the same sort of level for the Scottish Cup. And I think it's just a nice opportunity to get the fans in as well. And hopefully we can get a good crowd there on Sunday with it being a derby game.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Players come into Celtic that don't they're not from Scotland and they don't know the league and you've got that to offer them. You can play at the National Stadium if you get to this cup final. Is that something else that's a kind of an incentive? And do you speak to those players about that and what it's like?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah, I think so. I think it's probably one of these ones though, we kind of don't really mention it until we're there. Like we don't want to think too far ahead. We've kind of taken it game by game, but definitely going into the semi-final, it was we were kind of reiterating how obviously it's a grass pitch, which we're not used to. Um it's a lot bigger, and but the surface is very good and and it'll allow us to go and play our our football that maybe we can't necessarily do on some of the astral pitches, so it's just about kind of reiterating how good the the opportunity to is to go and play there.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Do you prefer playing grass?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah, 100%. It's just I think it's better on the body um as well, but it's just a nicer surface, particularly when it's a good pitch like Hamden to go and play, and it just makes it easier, in my opinion, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

A bizarre question, but do you change your preparations then for gr like you go and beat like obviously you're used to playing Astro 90% of the time across the league campaign? So this week, for example, do you go and train on Grand Air?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah, we'll train on grass this week, so we'll train on the grass here at at Battlefield um in preparation for Hamden, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Did you score the first goal when Grant Scott arrived? Was that the game against Hibbs? Was that the first goal on the game? I think in my opinion, yeah. So do you do you do you allow yourself to kind of have a wee a wee dream about maybe that coming full circle and scoring in the in the final in his first six months in the job?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Listen, I would I would love uh first of all, I'd love the team to win, and if that means that I scored a goal, um yeah, I would I would love that. I think it would be special. I think I've scored three goals in the Scottish Cup so far, so to add another one in the final would be yeah, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

And what do you think it would do for the group in general? Because it's been well from the outside it looks like quite a difficult season, a manager changed midway through and obviously the league, the league position. But what do you think winning that trophy would do for the group? Especially Grant's he's only in six months and it's it's quite soon in his his career here at Celtic.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I think it would just give us a bit of confidence if I'm honest. I think we know we can play. Um we've probably not done it consistently enough this season, which is disappointing. But if we can go and win that Scottish Cup on Sunday, it'll give us that platform to go and build on next season and hopefully then we can improve our performances, become more consistent, and then hopefully challenge for all the trophies next year.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

How do you prepare? Do you uh do you ever visualise things, you know, like in terms of your mental preparations? Do you visualise what it's like to go and win? Do you imagine yourself lifting the trophy?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

I think I probably didn't really before, but that certainly this sort of week I've tried to picture myself more picture myself like at moments at Hamden, whether it's playing against a player or different situations that might occur. I've tried to kind of picture them in my head, so then I'm I'm prepared for what whatever comes.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

That's funny, I've done that as well. I've visualised myself winning a trophy, but it's it's not it's never gonna happen unless there's one at fives. When you look at obviously you're coming up against Rangers, and we know how these games have gone, as Alison had said earlier, the the record that's a stat that players don't want to hear, but obviously it gets thrown up every time the game comes around until it doesn't matter. But Rangers is out at the weekend, is there a a risk of them, do you think, being the kind of people say it in football all the time, a wounded animal, but they'll be they'll be desperate, I would imagine, to try and go out and put that right a little bit after what happened?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Um potentially. Um I think obviously that was quite a surprise result when when we'd seen it. Um but I think they probably don't need any extra motivation in playing Celtic in in a cup final, and that's the same for us playing Rangers. So I think both teams will go with points to prove, and yeah, hopefully it'll be an interesting game for the neutral.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

You've been inundated for ticket requests?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Uh yeah, that's just my family though, never mind anybody else. But um I I've got a few a few going.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Just before we finish up, you've obviously grown up in Scotland, you know, a professional football player, a football fan. When you think about the Scottish Cup, it's it's like there's a romanticism to that trophy, and I know that the the women's version of it doesn't have as long and as illustrious a history. But when you think about the Scottish Cup, just you growing up as a a football fan, what what does it mean to that trophy?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Yeah, I think it it's the one that everybody wants to win, obviously the league and the league cup, but I think the Scottish Cup, like you say, has got a lot of um history. Um and yeah, if I could if we can go and win that on Sunday, it would be a great achievement for myself as an individual, but also for the team.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Very last one, promise. You mentioned them earlier, the fans. Obviously, Alison and I were at the game against Glasgow City, and when that went into extra time, the Celtic fans were I mean, they're always pretty vocal, but they were very loud in terms of pushing the team and giving the team the energy, and that was something that Kelly Clark had mentioned as well. You know, you're gonna need them on your side, all these things to come together to get the result that you want, but the fans are a big, big part of that as well. No, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

I said I think in an interview after the game that they were our 12th player that day. I think we heard them and and they really got us through. So hopefully we can get bigger numbers at at hand and for the final, and yeah, I'm sure they'll help us along the way no matter what what happens.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Did that one see just that victory over Glasgow City? Did that give you a bit of belief as well? Because obviously it was quite a scalp to take, particularly at that point of just where Glasgow City were in the in the campaign?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, I think probably City were probably favourites to win that. I know we'd played them on the Wednesday and we drew one each. Um we obviously had a player sent off, so it kind of skewed the result a wee bit. But yeah, I think City were probably favourites and and we went into that game and held on for so long and to even concede to make it go to extra time. Probably a few months ago our heads might have gone down and we would have lost the game. So I think it definitely showed a lot of character and resilience, and hopefully we can take that into Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

No, that was great. Listen, it was good to have a chat with you ahead of Sunday. All the best for that final again, Strangers at Hammed in the Scottish Cup final. Alison and I will be back next week as we wrap up the season and also look ahead to Scotland's double header against Israel. So thank you to Emma for joining us, thank you to Alison, and thank you to you for listening.