Hearts star Katie Rood aiming to “disrupt top three” as she prepares to face Celtic in SWPL

Katie Rood is confident going into SWPL1 Sunday’s fixture against Celtic – insisting that Hearts are aiming to “disrupt the top three”.

The Jam Tarts have had a brilliant campaign to date, sitting fourth in the table. Unbeaten at home in the league this season, that record will once again be put to the test this Sunday as they host second-place Celtic. Despite the challenge, Rood is going into the game confident that they can get a result.

“Celtic have posed the biggest challenge to us as a team”, she told the Edinburgh Evening News. “As a team in previous games, we hadn’t figured out how to unlock them and create more opportunities for ourselves. I’m looking forward to going into training this week and seeing what Eva Olid has up her sleeve for us.

“I’m confident, especially given the result they had against Motherwell, despite them bouncing back last weekend with a solid result. We are confident that we can get something out of it, but also we know they are one of the biggest challenges in this league. I guess we will see how we get on.”

Katie Rood has been in fine form for Hearts this season and has scored three goals in her last five games. Picture: Malcolm MacKenzie

Hearts are on fire at the moment and last tasted defeat in November in a 3-0 away loss to Celtic. Their form has placed them eight points clear of Edinburgh rivals Hibs who are fifth and they are now, in fact, closer to the third spot. The New Zealand international believes there may be more opportunities this season to try and catch the leading pack.

“It's always our intention [to get a result]”, she stated. “We are happy to be fourth and be creepy away from the rest of the pack. We also, want to disrupt the top three as much as possible and make the league exciting.

“You can't help but peek at what's ahead and think about what could be possible. Especially when the league splits, we will be likely to play these teams more often. There will be more opportunities as they will be taking points off each other as well. We are definitely keeping an eye on it.”