Hearts midfield maestro Erin Rennie aiming to repeat debut goal against Hibs

Erin Rennie made herself known last season when she scored past Hibs in front of a Tynecastle crowd on her debut – now the midfielder aims to repeat that success.

Joining the club six days before the Edinburgh clash, the 20-year-old was a Hibee only months before as she looked to show her former side what she could do. The midfielder did not disappoint as she burst through the midfield to smash the ball beyond Emily Mutch, in the first-ever clash between the two sides played in Gorgie. Despite going on to lose the game 3-1, it was a moment Rennie will never forget.

“It was a great feeling,” she told the Edinburgh Evening News. “Obviously, we lost that game, but it was a great feeling and I hope to do that next time.

“The game at Tynecastle was a big occasion in and of itself. To come up against my former club and score was great.”

Since then, the Jam Tarts have changed on and off the field as they took their first steps to become a full-time professional club in the summer. Signings such as Ciara Grant and Emma Brownlie have helped to propel the club from their eighth-place finish last season to fourth in the SWPL. As a result, the club have more than competed against their bitter rivals this season, sitting 11 points above them in the table.

The third Edinburgh derby is set to take place later this month in front of the Sky Sports cameras for the first time ever. The previous two fixtures this season ended 1-1 with the Jam Tarts being the current holders of the Capital Cup after winning the penalty shootout last time round at Tynecastle. With Rennie set to come up against her former club yet again, the midfielder hopes that she can repeat the personal success she had on her debut.

“It’s always exciting coming up against Hibs,” Rennie explained. “We will look to go into that one with confidence, as we have done with the past few. Hopefully, we can come out of it on the better side.

“Goals in the derby, goals anywhere is what I will look for, to be honest. I need to build on the goals, that’s the one thing for me.”

Erin Rennie has played in both Edinburgh derbies this season. Credit: David Mollison

The midfielder started her career off at Celtic, graduating through their academy before moving to Forfar Farmington, who sadly withdrew from the SWPL1 in the 2020/21 season. From there, she moved over to Edinburgh joining Dean Gibson’s Hibs side, but lack of game time saw her released in October 2021, only a few months after joining. However, the 20-year-old did not give up and after a successful trial at Hearts, the promising youngster put pen to paper. Looking back on her decision to join up with Eva Olid’s side, Rennie has no regrets.

“Hearts are going in the right direction,” Rennie added. “It’s such a good environment to be in just now. They are only looking to get better which is good. The backing from the club, you can see the changes in the past few years which is definitely a positive. It is a positive place to be.

“The table shows it from we were last season to where to are now. It’s a massive improvement.

“That was also a good experience [her time at Celtic]. Being the academy and being around most of the best players in the country. It was a great time to be there and that just further developed me.”

Erin Rennie's side does not play again until April 19th as they host Celtic. Credit: David Mollison

Now the season is entering its final faze, Hearts will be looking to finish the campaign as strong as possible. After finishing in the top half when the league split, the Jam Tarts are already guaranteed their best-ever finish in the SWPL in what has been a memorable campaign to date. This has also transferred to the dressing room with the chemistry between the squad being outstanding. With the final eight games of the campaign now approaching, Rennie hopes Hearts can secure fourth place and continue to challenge the top three on the pitch.

“At the start of the season, our objective was top six,” Rennie stated. “We have got that and secured that so we wanted to be fourth, we want to be fourth but we don’t need to be. We aimed to be top six, we have got that now. We’ve got individual goals to be fourth and the team's goal probably would be to be fourth but it’s not what we need. We have got what we needed now it's going onto what we want. It would be good to get fourth so we will just have to see what happens at the end of the season.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. Our aim at the start of the season was the top six, we have now secured that. You only grow in confidence playing against their teams [the top three] so that’s what we are going to look to do.

“Honestly, it is [amazing]. For me as well, on the pitch everybody helps but it’s also off the pitch as well. There’s just a great connection, it’s a great changing room to be in. It’s a good place to be.

“Georgia [Timms] has been great since she came in. I have got a good relationship with all the team. It’s just a positive changing room to be in and a positive place to be.”