Hibs Ladies lose ground in title race after Glasgow City defeat

Chris Roberts was left disappointed by Hibs Ladies' defeat. Pic: SNS

Trailing league leaders Glasgow City by two points prior to Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash at Broxburn’s Albyn Park, the Hibees were unable to replicate their heroics from June’s League Cup final where Lizzie Arnot’s last minute winner sealed victory. Instead, they succumbed to a heavy 4-0 defeat, with Scotland internationalist Julie Fleeting netting a brace for Scott Booth’s side.

Roberts, who was visibly disappointed, admitted the five-point gap might be a bridge too far for his squad to try and overhaul.

“It’s now out of our hands which isn’t the position we wanted to be in but it is what it is. We just need to hope they drop points and we can keep winning,” Roberts said.

“We need to try and apply as much pressure as we can if we keep winning, which isn’t granted in this league, and see what happens.

“We just never got into the flow of the game. Things just weren’t working for us. It wasn’t down to a lack of effort or desire from the girls. I think we’ve got to give some credit to City in the respect they had six shots on target and scored four. Julie is so difficult to play against and was very decisive, but we need to defend better.

“We took a lot praise and credit for the way we performed in the final so we now need to take a big slice of humble pie and move on.”

Elsewhere, Spartans missed out on the chance to consolidate third place as they went down 2-0 to Celtic at Ainslie Park, the Glasgow side leapfrogging their Capital opponents who drop to fourth in the table.

Meanwhile in SWPL 2, goals from Ashley Carse and Michelle Stewart sent Hearts top of the table with a 2-0 victory over former league leaders Glasgow Girls. However, there was disappointment for Hutchison Vale as they crashed to a 5-2 defeat at Hamilton.