Hearts ready to put a halt to Celtic’s title ambitions

Hearts travel to a Celtic Park on Sunday with the plan to put an end to any final-day title ambitions that the hosts may have.

The Glaswegians could lift the SWPL1 title on the weekend if they win and Rangers draw or beat Glasgow City. If their Old Firm rivals are victorious, Celtic will need to have a bigger margin of victory to overcome their goal-difference. However Hearts do not fear the contest, with assistant manager Sean Burt seeing no reason why they cannot go and cause an upset.

“I wouldn’t say the game is daunting,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “I would flip it on its head and say it is an exciting challenge. We have probably exceeded our expectations this season. What better way to end the season than an occasion where we are at a great stadium, there will be a great crowd there, it’s a great spectacle for the women’s game; why can’t we go and cause an upset?

“It’s a great way to end the season for us as well, it’s a great occasion and a great occasion to be part of. We are happy that we are playing a part in this run-in, we wanted to do that, and we wanted to have a say in the title. We have done that by picking points up against Rangers and we want to go and try and do that against Celtic.”

Hearts have already secured fourth place going into the final day. Credit: Malcolm Mackenzie

Hearts had a day to forget last weekend as they fell to a 6-0 defeat to Rangers. Many of the regular first-team players such as Emma Brownlie and Ciara Grant were unavailable for the fixture. However, Burt does not believe the squad will be facing similar availability problems this weekend.

“It's been great to have that normality come back,” Burt added. “Everyone will be back except Katie Rood and Jenny Smith with the latter being suspended. Jenna Penman has had a bit of good news on the injury front but the game is probably going to come too soon for her. Everybody else has trained this week, is looking good and should be in contention.”