Amidst a whirlwind run-in to the end of the season which sees Glasgow City continue to compete on two fronts, Emily Whelan has not had time for her recent individual milestone to truly sink in.
The 22-year-old Republic of Ireland international became a centurion when she made her 100th appearance for the Original Trailblazers against Rangers - who we face this Wednesday evening at Ibrox - earlier this month.
As humble and team-focused as ever, the forward hadn’t taken a moment to reflect on the impressive feat that it is. But as we talk, it becomes clear what it means to her.
“It is crazy,” Whelan says affectionately. “I didn’t think I had played that many times already. It’s a real honour and privilege to play for this club. It’s a great place to be.”
One such reason City is a special place, which Whelan attests to, is the club’s hunger for silverware. She was part of the squad who won the SWPL title at the end of the 2022/23 campaign at Ibrox – the destination of yet another crucial league match this week.
We face second-placed Rangers sitting only one point behind them in third. This title race is set to go down to the wire, and lifting the trophy once again would be a fitting close to a campaign which saw Whelan extend her stay at City and reach 100 appearances with the club.
She continues: “I have won a league title here before and I know what that feeling is like – I really want that feeling again and I want the girls to experience it, too.
“This group of players put everything they have got into the games that we play. Hopefully, we can go and do it.”
We make the short trip to Ibrox with momentum behind us thanks to a dominant and impressive display in our Scottish Cup semi-final win against Motherwell at Hampden in our last outing on Saturday afternoon.
And ahead of another match at a big stadium on a grass pitch, Whelan believes it is the perfect platform to build on going into the battle with Jo Potter’s side.
“We are going to take the buzz and the excitement we’ve got from the Scottish Cup and take it into Wednesday’s game in another big stadium and on a grass pitch,” she says.
“You need momentum. It’s so important. We can’t take our foot off the gas now and need to bring this good feeling into Wednesday. We know we have to put out our best performance and do what we know we can.”
Whelan will go into the game feeling especially confident after she shone at Hampden, registering two assists by setting up Sofia Määttä and Nicole Kozlova’s goals.
Her selfless attitude becomes apparent once again, as she shifts the praise to her goal-scoring teammates.
“We’re all going into the Rangers game confident,” Whelan adds, “I got the two assists, but I wouldn’t be getting those assists if it wasn’t for the play that the team are doing.
“I’m happy to be able to help the team in whatever way I can, and I always want to be doing that, but kudos has to go to Sofia and Nic for putting those balls in the back of the net.”
City have played at Ibrox once already this season – a 1-1 draw back in October with Whelan scoring our goal after 15 minutes, before a Rio Hardy equaliser. This time, she hopes her performance can help us to all three points.
“Hopefully, I can recreate it again and we get the win this time,” Whelan says. “I’m looking forward to it.
“From our last game at Ibrox, I remember the emotions that we had. I remember Brenna taking half the team on and playing me through to go and score.
“We had to be resilient and really put our mind to it. Hopefully, we can do that again on Wednesday.
“In these types of games, you can’t afford to lose focus because if you do – even just for a few seconds – you get punished. We will go in fully focused, fully aware and ready to bring the game to them.”
Come along to Ibrox and support Emily and the squad by getting your ticket here. And we can't wait to see you back at the Peasy soon - tickets for our remaining two home games against Celtic and Hearts can be bought here.