Hibs Women: League Cup History
It’s Sky Sports Cup semi-final weekend and Hibernian Women have their sights set on reaching another showpiece final.
Richard Payne looks back through the archives and assess our record in the competition and against our opponents, Aberdeen.
The Club has a rich history in the League Cup having reached 12 finals, winning seven of them and in doing so creating a Scottish record.
No team has won the competition as many times as us and if we are to do so again this season, we will first have to overcome Aberdeen on Sunday at Meadowbank Stadium.
The Dons however will be hoping to create their own piece of history by defeating us in Edinburgh for the first time – having failed to do so in their previous 23 attempts – and reaching their first Sky Sports Cup final.
The two sides have met six times in the competition before with Hibs victorious on each occasion.
Only once have we met at the semi-final stage; it came back in 2015 when Chris Roberts’ side ran out 4-0 winners thanks to a brace from Lucy Graham and further efforts from Lizzie Arnot and Joelle Murray.
The Dons would gain a measure of revenge for that defeat by beating us 3-0 later that year in the SWPL with a certain Rachael Boyle starring in their side.
Aberdeen have only beaten us once since then and the overall record is comprehensively in our favour with 40 wins, three draws and just three defeats in the 46 meetings.
This season we have scored 14 times in just two meetings with Aberdeen – winning 7-1 at home back in August and 7-0 in the Granite City during November.
The Sky Sports Cup gives Scott Booth’s beleaguered side an opportunity to put their testing league form aside – albeit temporarily – and focus fully on creating history.
We, by contrast, are veterans on how to handle the latter stages of major cup competitions.
We have won 12 of the 18 semi-finals we have played in the Sky Sports Cup and between 2014-2019, we competed in six successive finals.
The first time we reached the semi-final stage of the League Cup was back in 2003 when we were comfortably beaten 5-1 by high flying Kilmarnock, who went on to lift the trophy.
Two years later there were goals galore as we edged out Newburgh by the odd goal in ELEVEN enroute to capturing the silverware with a 6-1 win over Raith Rovers at Starks Park.
Glasgow City and ourselves have long enjoyed a competitive rivalry in the women’s game and over the years we would often be paired together in the latter stages of the cup.
In 2007 we fought out an eight-goal thriller with Kim Little impressing during a 5-3 victory for Hibs before the girls went on to defeat Queen’s Park 4-0 in the final.
A year later we were on the receiving then of a 5-3 scoreline as Spartans took the spoils from a last four Edinburgh derby. In 2009 we hammered Rangers 5-1 before falling to Glasgow City in the final.
The appointment of Willie Kirk kickstarted a new period of success at Hibs and in 2011 he oversaw our 2-1 victory over Glasgow City before we clinched the trophy with a 5-2 win over Spartans.
It would be five long years before we got our hands on the cup again and after an Abi Harrison inspired defeat of Rangers in the semi-finals, we overcame Glasgow City 2-1 in the final.
It signalled a period of dominance for Hibs in the Cup competitions as we won seven successive trophies, including four straight League Cup wins.
In 2017 and 2018 we knocked Glasgow City out at the semi-final stages before thrashing Celtic in the final, winning 4-1 and 9-0 respectively against the Hoops.
Our final trophy success came in 2019 when we defeated Glasgow City on penalty kicks following a 0-0 draw.
Since then, we have reached the final just once – falling to a 2-0 defeat against Rangers at Tynecastle in December 2022.
Show your support for the girls by backing them in their quest for silverware and purchasing a ticket for the semi-final against Aberdeen.