Hearts Women gain on all three title rivals as Eva Olid's side enjoy dream start to post-split SWPL 1 run-in
Hat-trick hero Carly Johns helped Hearts to a comfortable win over Partick Thistle as Glasgow City, Celtic and Rangers all dropped points.
Hearts Women have closed the gap at the top to just four points on SWPL leaders Glasgow City after a flawless start to the post-split fixtures.
The Women in Maroon followed up last weekend’s 3-2 victory over Rangers at the Oriam with a 4-1 win away to Partick Thistle on Wednesday. On what could be a consequential midweek round of fixtures, elsewhere Celtic and Glasgow City drew 1-1 while Hibs and Rangers played out a stalemate at the Meadowbank Sports Centre.
The results mean second placed Hearts now have some breathing space on their Old Firm rivals, sitting four points clear of Rangers and three ahead of Celtic with a far superior goal difference. They have now also closed the gap on runaway leaders Glasgow City to just four points.
Hat-trick hero steals the show in Partick Thistle vs Hearts
Despite what the scoreline would suggest, Hearts didn’t have it all their own way at Petershill Park after a noticeably quiet first half. However, a Carly Johns header broke the deadlock after 43 minutes to relieve some of the pressure. Minutes later, in first half stoppage time, Jenna Slattery doubled the lead for the visitors.
The Jags didn’t create a great deal of chances during the match but were able to pull one back through Olivia King on the hour mark. Johns then hit straight back as she fired in a second half brace to complete her hat-trick and secure the three points.
With three games in the space of a week, Johns was omitted from the starting XI against Rangers as Eva Olid continues to manage her squad but the Hearts boss now has a few healthy selection decisions to make ahead of Sunday’s Edinburgh Derby.
Olid on Thistle rout
After the match, The Jambos boss told Hearts’ Youtube Channel: “I don’t think we were at our best. I always say it’s always difficult to play Partick (Thistle) because they’re aggressive and they come to press and that’s hard for us to play against as we always want to build from the back. So credit to them, they made it difficult for us, but the most important thing was three points.
“It’s three games in the space of a week for us. We need to rotate and manage the squad because of this. That’s very important going into Sunday. So we gave opportunities to players who aren’t necessarily playing a lot and we won. So I’m happy with the four goals, but there’s still some things we need to work on before Hibs.
“We have a big opportunity to take another step forward (against Hibs). They’re always a difficult opponent but we’ll be playing at home which I think can help. But it’s going to be a super-competitive match and we will need to give everything.”
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