Hibs complete mission impossible as they cement themselves as SWPL champions on day for the ages
There was a historic title win for Hibs Women on Sunday afternoon.
Hibs have claimed the SWPL title against the odds after a historic 1-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox.
Despite facing a number of clubs with sizeable budgets, Grant Scott has been able to lead Hibs to their first title since 2007 after a gritty and determined final day display saw them over the line and set off exuberant celebrations amongst the travelling supporters. With Sunday’s opponents still in contention to win the title, Hibs held their nerve and their narrow win over Rangers rendered Glasgow City’s home win against Hearts meant little.
After a tight and nervy opening 45 minutes at Ibrox that brought few chances for either side, Scott’s side were the first to create a genuine chance as Kirsten Reilly struck the crossbar with a stunning long-range effort nine minutes after the restart. However, there would be no denying Hibs with quarter of an hour remaining as they broke the deadlock and took one giant step towards a hard-earned title win.
Hibs earn SWPL title acclaim
Taylor was the goalscorer as the centre-back strode downfield after breaking up an attacking from the hosts and got on the end of a Kathleen McGovern cross before expertly converting beyond Rangers goalkeeper Jenna Fife. That set off a desperate attempt to get back into the game from Rangers but Taylor proved her effectiveness in a more natural area of the pitch as the Hibs skipper and her defensive team-mates held firm to ensure they were crowned as SPFL champions and secured a spot in Europe next season.
Speaking before the game, Scott said: "I think we have to just be really conscious of what we have achieved. We've added a ridiculous extra number of points on last season's total and we're going to go in the title race to the last day of the season. Two, three, four, five years back we might we would have been miles from that. So, I think we have to remember where we are, where we've been, where we've came from even 12 months ago. Most of the post-split fixtures didn't mean anything to us at that point, we were just playing the games as best we could.
"To have this now is a remarkable achievement whatever happens come Sunday but obviously we want to go that one extra now and try and get some success."