Celtic’s title and European ambitions hang by a thread as they were blown away by Glasgow City in an impressive first-half.

Beating a retreating Celtic defence for pace, Nicole Kozlova had it all to do but fired home the opener from an angle tighter than the gap between the two sides up until that point.

Putting some distance between the two teams, Kozlova bagged a brace before the half-hour mark after a poor clearance from Kelsey Daugherty allowed Brenna Lovera to put the opportunity on goal for her teammate on a plate.

Disaster struck for the visitors with the Celtic keeper again at fault, unable to shift the ball before Lovera picked her pocket and opened a three goal margin to leave Elena Sadiku scrambling to save her season.

Despite the difficult half, Celtic began to mount a comeback as Lucy Ashworth-Clifford tapped the ball in at the back post after some good work from substitute Katherine Loferski to get the ball across the face of goal.

Kolzlova came ever so close to a hat-trick but for a strong save from Daugherty at point blank range late in the first-half, the keeper also forced into a fingertip save as Hayley Lauder’s cross looked to be heading for the top corner.

Celtic struggled to create chances but Murphy Agnew was brilliantly denied by a sprawling Lee Gibson in a rare goalscoring opportunity for the away side.

Victory sees City move level on points with Hibernian having played a game more whilst Celtic trail both by eight with three games of the seasons left to play.

More to follow …

Line-ups:

Glasgow City: Gibson, Smit (Muir 84), Walsh, van Diemen, Määttä (Fulton 71), Gambone, Lauder (c) (Whelan 71), Motlhalo (Lockwood 84), Evans, Lovera (Wróbel 87), Kozleva Unused subs: Anderson, Easdon, Forrest, Love

Goals: Kozlova (24, 30), Lovera (45)

Booked: Smit, Lovera

Celtic: Daugherty, Barclais, Bruna Lourenço, Clark (c), Lawton, Nakao, Ashworth-Clifford (Harrison 77), McAneny (Smith 77), Gallacher (Cavanagh 86), Noonan, Agnew (Loferski 53) Unused subs: Carstnes, Dawson, Rodgers

Goals: Ashworth-Clifford (54)

Booked: Gallacher