SWPL1: Becky Galbraith says Spartans beat Hearts while out of their comfort zone; Crystal Thomas bags Hibs hat-trick

Spartans striker Becky Galbraith says her team must get used to being out of their comfort zone to keep up in SWPL1 – after doing just that to overcome Hearts in the first all-Edinburgh clash of the SWPL1 season.
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Spartans had to come from behind to defeat Hearts 2-1 at Ainslie Park despite being without manager Debbi McCulloch, who missed the game having been away on the SFA mentorship programme in Costa Rica.

Hearts sub Aimee Anderson put the visitors in front before Galbraith equalised and Spartans won it thanks to an own goal.

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At Meadowbank Stadium, Hibs bounced back from their 9-0 loss to Celtic last weekend with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Hamilton, with summer signing Crystal Thomas bagging a hat-trick, while Eilidh Adams added a fourth late on in the match.

Becky Galbraith grabbed the equaliser for Spartans. Picture: Mark BrownBecky Galbraith grabbed the equaliser for Spartans. Picture: Mark Brown
Becky Galbraith grabbed the equaliser for Spartans. Picture: Mark Brown

Explaining the challenge that her squad faced, Spartans goalscorer Galbraith said: “The league has gone to a higher intensity and maybe we were a bit naive last week, and today we knew we had to start the game at fifth gear and move higher. Debbi told us we had to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and it was uncomfortable. We dealt with that spell, got back into the game and managed the game really well in the last ten minutes.

“It’s always difficult without Debbi being here, but we spoke to her via Zoom, she was up at 4am this morning and that’s the kind of commitment we need to show and come together as best we can, and that’s how we’ll get results.”

Hearts assistant head coach Sean Burt couldn’t hide his disappointment about the mistakes that cost his side the result.

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“Unfortunately, not dealing with set pieces has cost us,” he said. “We need to be brave and deal with it and we didn’t today. We got ourselves into a great position, Aimee has come off the bench and scored and all credit to her for that. Apart from the set pieces, chances were few and far between and that’s what’s most frustrating.

“Even if you look at the manner of how the corners were conceded, it was mistakes leading to mistakes and that’s cost us badly. We need to look ahead to Rangers next week now, and try to bounce back. It’ll be hard, we’re under no illusions, but we know we can compete with Rangers and Celtic.”

The hosts were still smarting after their heavy 7-0 opening day defeat away to Glasgow City, while the Jambos came into the match in confident mood following their 3-1 victory over Partick Thistle.

Galbraith was restored to the home side and led the line well, causing trouble for the Hearts defence early on and heading over from an Alana Marshall corner, while last week’s Hearts hat-trick hero Georgia Timms had two superb chances just before half-time but fired over the bar on both occasions.

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The game came to life just after the hour mark when Anderson curled a shot into the corner from the edge of the area, just one minute after coming on, but Spartans responded five minutes later when Galbraith nodded home from a Marshall corner.

The game looked like it would play out as a draw until another wicked Marshall delivery deceived Hearts goalie Charlotte Parker-Smith, and the ball deflected in off Emma Brownlie to give Spartans the win.

Both teams face tough tests next week, with Spartans away at Celtic, while Hearts are the visitors to last season’s unbeaten champions, Rangers.

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