Workington’s Hardy twins enjoyed another Super Sunday as their collective medal haul keeps on growing, writes John Hastings.
After Rio helped Rangers win the Scottish Women’s League Cup last week, it was the turn of Steffi to taste silverware as Apollon Ladies retained the Cyprus Women’s First Division with a 2-0 home victory against Lakatamia for their fifth title in six seasons
Steffi has been involved in all five successes, with Covid depriving her of a sixth medal when the 2020 season was declared void. She now aims for a third successive League and FA Cup double when Apollon take on Karmiotissa in a two-legged semi-final final later this month.
Rio herself won two titles with Apollon before returning home in 2021 for spells at Coventry United, then Durham City before moving to Scotland last summer.
Her goalscoring exploits continued as she came off the bench and posted her 33rd goal of the season to help Rangers come from behind and beat a resolute Hibernian 2-1 at Broadwood.
That result keeps Rangers top of the Scottish Women’s Premier League, one point ahead of Celtic with just three games left and with a Scottish Women’s Cup semi-final against Celtic on 27th April, they remain on track for a domestic treble following last week’s League Cup success.
The Workington-raised twins are 27 now and started their football careers with Blackburn Rovers, England Colleges and Accrington and Rossendale Academy, as well as featuring for Workington Reds’ youth sides.
They then headed to study in the USA and played for the University of South Alabama in the Sun Belt Conference before signing their first professional European contracts for Iceland club Grindavík in the Úrvalsdeild Women.
