Hearts overcame "difficult" Partick side to close gap on fourth place

Hearts overcame Partick Thistle 4-1 at Petershill Park to go within one point of their opponents in fourth spot.

It was a very impressive result from the visitors who ended up winning the game comfortably against a Partick side who sat four points clear of them at the start of the day. Ciara Grant netted a fantastic free-kick in between two Katie Lockwood goals before Carly Girasoli rounded off the game with Hearts’ fourth. Manager Eva Olid was delighted after the game with the scoreline as her team took control of the fixture in the second half. 

“My heart is still going so quick,”  Olid told the Edinburgh Evening News. “Today was difficult, the conditions were not good. It was raining, it is a small pitch that we are not used to, Partick are a good team and are physical and aggressive. In the first half, we couldn’t play too much due to it being stop/start. In the second half, it was a little strange too but the important thing is that we won the game.”

A fantastic start from Hearts saw them score in the opening five minutes. Olufolasade Adamolekun played a perfectly weighted pass through to Lockwood who placed the ball into the back of the net. Just under 10 minutes later, Partick equalised. The ball fizzed through the box and Imogen Longcake found the back of the net from close range. Georgia Timms almost restored the visitors lead when she closed down the opposing ‘keeper and saw the ball deflect just wide of the net. 

Grant was next to go close as her distanced effort was spilt by the goalkeeper but Timms couldn’t get there quick enough to tap in the rebound. Hearts’ eventually retook the lead right on half-time. A sensational low-driven free-kick from Grant nestled right into the bottom corner to put the visitors in control going into half-time. 

At the start of the second period, Timms went extremely close to extending Hearts’ lead as her shot was drilled just wide of the post. Partick thought they had the equaliser as the ball was bundled home after Charlotte Parker-Smith’s stunning save. However, the referee judged the ball to have gone out for a corner in the build-up. Hearts had a chance to make it 3-1 after when the ‘keeper couldn’t hold onto the ball but Lockwood wasn’t able to get a clear angle to get her shot away. 

Minutes later, Lockwood had her second of the day as she tapped home from a brilliant Addie Handley cross. Partick were reduced to ten players just after the restart as Demi Falconer pulled down Timms as she looked to break. From the resulting free-kick, Hearts made it 4-1. Cailin Michie whipped the ball into the area and Girasoli was able to tap it into the net after Partick failed to clear. 

“Mentally, that was key to score before the end of the first half,” Olid added. “At half-time, we tried to improve a few things and in the second half we were playing more forward which was our intention. Then finally, we scored the goals that we had to score.”