Lady Luck Wears Stripes.
Hibs Ladies A Squad travelled to Lennoxtown to face Celtic, Sunday 11th April.
It seems Lennoxtown is becoming a bit of a curse for Hibs Ladies as they fell 2.1 to Celtic this Sunday. An even match did not allow many clear cut chances for both sides. But it was Hibs who were to lose out on the day, as they did in the last meeting to Lady Luck, wearing green and white stripes yet again.
Kirsty McBride of Hibs was first to come close to breaking the deadlock when she touched the ball past Faye in goal for Celtic, but the shot agonisingly hit the inside of the post and rolled along the goal line, only to be eventually cleared by the Celtic defence.
Hibs Keeper Shannon Lynn, was in fine form as she made a succession of great catches inside the box from Celtic set pieces. Although a breakthrough for Celtic came in the 32nd minute when Leanne Crichton hooked a cross in from the left corner, the ball tipped Lynn’s gloves and fell to Cook who fumbled the ball over the Hibs line. The Hibs defence was up in arms complaining that the ball had gone out the park on the cross, but the referee disagreed.
While Hibs tried to find goals created from play, it was Celtics long ball tactic that created the next opportunity of the game in the 40th minute. Suzanne Grant was unlucky not to beat Shannon Lynn in the Hibs net, who quickly closed down her space making Scotland’s top striker inch her shot wide of the post.
Half Time 1.0 Celtic.
Feeling hard done by Hibs started the 2nd half well and continued to build from back to front. Both teams put on a great display for the traveling crowd and each continued to push for a goal. That goal came in unfortunate fashion to Hibs defender Lisa Robertson, who stuck out her leg to clear a Celtic long ball into the box. With no Celtic players around the ball took a sickening bounce off her leg, lofting Lynn in the Hibs net and putting the home side 2.0 up in the 74th minute.
Celtic sat back for the next 15 minutes as Hibs piled on the pressure. Substitute Claire Emslie found herself in front of goal with 10 minutes remaining and was brought down in the box but the referee allowed play to go on and Hibs continued to press for a goal.
With 4 minutes remaining a Joelle Murray classic cross found the head of U19 National vice captain Jenna Ross in the Celtic box. The 5 foot 4 ex-Rangers midfielder finished with class as she flicked the ball behind Faye and into the side netting for a well deserved goal for the Edinburgh side.
A valiant Hibs team continued to fight to the final whistle but Celtic were strong in defending their lead and the match finished 2.1 Celtic.
Hibs captain Rhonda Jones commented after the game “ The team are bitterly disappointed to lose this match. Sometimes playing nice football doesn’t win you the game and today was an example of this. Our coach (Willie Kirk) stresses that we build and involve every player from back to front, and although it didn’t work for us today, I believe it was down to unfortunate circumstances. We believe that is how football should be played and that is how we will continue to play that way throughout the season. Celtic has good quality in their team and battled well today. But unfortunately for us, they had luck on their side and we didn’t. Looking forward we are confident that the league is far from over.”
Head Coach Willie Kirk commented, "My players are absolutely gutted after that result. It is my job now to see beyond the 2-1 scoreline and point out to them the many positives from their performance which I am sure they will all recognise, once the dust has settled.
You don't always get what your performance deserves in football but I have told them that as long as they apply themselves like that over the course of the season, that the breaks even themselves out.
We have to bounce back immediately and go on another winning run over the next few weeks. After today I have no doubts that my players have the character to do that."
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