Celtic captain Kelly Clark believes her side fully deserved to lift the Women’s Scottish Cup given the tough draw they received throughout the competition.
After easing aside lower-league Dunfermline Athletic, Grant Scott’s side had to beat the four sides above them in the Scottish Women’s Premier League – including city rivals Rangers in Sunday’s final.
“We played Hearts, we played Hibs, we played [Glasgow] City and we’ve played Rangers, so we didn’t get it easy and we’ve got the result every single time,” 31-year-old Clark told BBC Scotland.
“We got the toughest draw possible every single round and I think we’ve stood up to the test and I think we thoroughly deserved that.”
Celtic finished a disappointing fifth in the league and Clark believes lifting the cup for a third time will be a confidence boost for next season.
“I think it’s massive for numerous reasons,” she said. “You can go and enjoy your summer a little bit more and you just start looking for next season.
“Once you do it once, you want to do it again and again. It is a feeling nothing else in the world can replicate.
“Absolutely buzzing. Some of our performance have not got the results we deserved and today we dug in and played nice football when we could play nice football and I am just delighted to be able to lift the trophy again.
“It has been a couple of years, so it’s amazing to do it again.”
Morgan Cross scored the only goal of the game and the 25-year-old winger said Celtic went into the gave with “full belief in ourselves” despite having lost to Rangers in their previous five meetings of the season.
“We knew we were capable of beaten them and it was just about putting it out on the pitch,” she said.
“I am so delighted. Just saw Saoirse [Noonan] get the ball at her feet and I just thought to get my toe on it. As long as it goes in the net.
“I don’t think we could have had a tougher run. I don’t think anyone can say we don’t deserve it.”