Hearts aim for another three points as they travel to SWPL champions Glasgow City

Hearts assistant manager Sean Burt insists his side ‘are not happy with just competing’ as they aim to inflict Glasgow City’s first defeat.

The Jam Tarts have had a great start to their new season. After the first month of fixtures, Hearts sit fifth after winning three of their first four games. Rangers are the only team to get a result against with many arguing that the Jam Tarts did enough to at least come away with a point. However, Burt’s team will now face their toughest test yet as they travel to the current champions on Saturday night.

“Last season we always believed that we could be competitive going into these fixtures and take points and we did that against Rangers,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “Whereas now, we now want to go and win these games. That was the message against Rangers and, on another day, we win that fixture.

“We are not happy now with just competing, we want to be taking points every time we play these top teams. Glasgow City are a great side with lots of great individuals and have brought in some players who have adapted to the league quickly. It will be a difficult challenge but one that we are looking forward to.”

Hearts have scored 10 times in the first four games while only concedding twice. Credit: Malcolm Mackenzie

Much of Hearts’ success this season can be directed to their newfound attacking success. So far this campaign, the Jam Tarts have netted ten times with new signing Kathleen McGovern scoring four. The striker’s form has seen her nominated for the SWPL1 August Player of the Month with Burt full of praise for the 21-year-old.

“As a whole, we have improved in the final third of the pitch,” he explained. “We have more depth, Danni [Findlay] has come from Dundee United and Kathleen [McGovern] has settled in seamlessly coming back home from Germany. We also knew that McGovern would be a success here purely because of her background here in the league. However, what has stood out for us is just how good she is off the pitch as well. She is extremely clever and a great character to have around. She’s playing great football at the moment and long may that continue.”

Alongside McGovern, plenty of other fresh faces have been performing well. Katie Lockwood, Findlay, Carly Girasoli and Lizzie Waldie have all got their first goals for the club over recent weeks with Burt confirming that the latter will be back for the Glasgow City game after a knock against Dundee United.

“Waldie is back in training, she completed full training on Monday,” he added. “She will be back in contention. We just need to keep assessing the squad as a three-game week can be difficult for players so we will have to manage that accordingly. The squad were in the gym on Wednesday, and we will continue to assess how people are. There are no troubling concerns, Waldie coming back which bolds well for competition. Girasoli got a goal on the weekend and Georgia Hunter has stepped up in the last couple of games. Nothing is a given and it will be interesting to see how everyone performs ahead of Saturday as it is a game all the players love. There is an extra intensity to training in the leadup so hopefully a full squad.”