Georgia Hunter on the scoresheet again as Hearts see off Spartans

A goal from captain Georgia Hunter combined with an own goal from Robyn McCafferty was enough for Hearts to see off Spartans 2-0, condemning the north Edinburgh sider to the bottom half of SWPL1.

The Jam Tarts are now eight points clear of Hibs as they consolidate their fourth spot before going into the Scottish Cup next week. However, the hosts had to wait until the second half to get the opener as Hunter got her second goal in four games. Hearts assistant manager Sean Burt was full of praise for the 21-year-old.

“I don’t know what’s happening, she hasn’t stopped scoring has she, it’s brilliant”, he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “From the technical staff, a lot of effort goes into the setplays. We touched on it at the start of the season where we wanted to be a bigger threat. If you look at Georgia height, Vyan Sampson in the team, Emma Brownlie chipping in with some in the team and you’ve got a player like Ciara Grant who can deliver like that, it’s fantastic to see.”

The first half was extremely tight with little goal action for either team. Cailin Michie had the first chance on goal for Hearts as her distance effort travelled all the way into Rachel Harrison’s arms for an easy save. Play was halted just before the half-way point in the half as Tegan Reynolds was forced off through injury. Shortly after, Katie Rood saw her effort on goal fly just wide of the post. Erin Rennie had a final attempt to break the deadlock before half-time sending the ball over the bar as the game remained goalless at the half-way point.

Hunter scored her second goal in four games. Credit: Hearts Women Twitter

The second period started with more intensity as Hearts pushed for an opener. Timms came close as she headed over and Monica Forysth saw her distanced effort fly over the bar in the opening exchanges. Hannah Jordan should have scored when she was through on goal but Charlotte Parker-Smith was out to parry. Moments later Ciara Grant was in the same position but Harrison was out quickly to save it with her legs. The deadlock would be broken a minute later as Hunter headed home from a corner to give the hosts the lead on 58 minutes. The Jam Tarts doubled their lead with 12 to go as Robyn McCafferty deflected Jenny Smith’s cross into her own net. Spartans almost got a consulate goal in the dying second but Parker-Smith did fantastically well to parry Caley Gibb’s shot onto the post.

Defeat for Spartans means that the club will now play the rest of the campaign in the bottom half as the SWPL splits. The visitors will be disappointed in their performance after playing brilliantly against Rangers last weekend.

“I’m disappointed”, Spartans assistant manager Scott Noble stated. “On the back of last week’s strong performance against Rangers where we were good defensively and caused them issues, we haven’t taken that into this game.

“We wanted to make that push into the top six although with how the results went elsewhere, it may not have meant much in the league but it meant a lot for us as a club to continue our values and set the standards that we talked about at the start of the season. We didn’t do that.”