Celtic FC Women kicked off the new season in emphatic style, defeating newly-promoted Montrose 9-0 in the opening game of the campaign.

After putting on a five-star showing in the opening 45 minutes, the Ghirls followed that up with a further four strikes in the second half.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the match, Fran Alonso praised his squad for their performance after seeing much of the hard work in pre-season come to fruition.

He said: “I thought we were very good. It was a very professional display from the beginning and throughout.

“Everything that we worked on in our pre-season preparations has worked today. We were solid in defence and our attacking links between players were very good.

‘It was a great result against a team who were outstanding in their division last season. So it was a little bit of an unknown for us.’

“But I really liked the professionalism of our display. So I am very, very happy overall.”

Although the Celts ran out comfortable winners, scoring nine goals in the process, it could have been even more.

The Hoops put on an impressive attacking performance, laying down an early marker to get the season underway.

Seeing his side create so many opportunities in the opening 90 minutes of the season gave Alonso even more confidence and he is hoping to see similar levels of performance going forward.

“We scored nine goals, but we also missed some clear-cut chances,” he said. “Of course, it’s never easy in this division to have a scoreline like that.

"Although we have some areas where will improve, I am very proud of the girls because they put in a real professional shift today.

'That will help us going forward. Players from the bench also made a big impact, and that will help us throughout the season to keep getting stronger and stronger.'

“Hopefully we can carry on with this level of performance going into the next few games.”

This afternoon’s result at Links Park means that for the second season in a row, the Celts have kicked off the new campaign with a 9-0 win over their opponents.

That is a sign that the Spaniard sees as a major positive, going up against the newly-promoted side who have plenty of experience playing alongside one another.

He said: “I never thought about that! That is a very good way to start things off for the season winning 9-0.

“But overall, I take the performance. Last year we played a team who didn’t really have the connections because a number of players came in last minute

“Today it’s a team that knows each other well after playing together last season.

'That gives me more confidence going forward because I really liked the performance of our team.'

“There are some things we will need to correct because we maybe weren’t as good at, but overall, I can see that the girls are doing very well and establishing links which is important.

“When we had the ball I really liked our control, and our defensive shape. So I’m very happy with the performance.”

Fran Alonso: The girls put in a brilliant professional performance