Hibs Women 3 Glasgow City 1

Hibs continued their remarkable unbeaten league run with a convincing performance at Meadowbank.

Kathleen McGovern and Eilidh Adams had the Hibees two-up within the first ten minutes, before Glasgow City struck back shortly after. McGovern struck once more to make certain of the result — as Ciara Grant celebrated a hat-trick of set-piece assists.

Grant Scott made two changes to the side that beat Aberdeen to progress to the Final of the Sky Sports Cup last Sunday. Club captain Rachael Boyle slotted back into the starting XI alongside striker Kathleen McGovern. Competition was tight, as Stacey Papadopoulos and an in-form winger Kirsty Morrison dropped to the bench.

Goalkeeper Noa Schumacher played her third successive game; keeping her starting berth as loanee Erin Clachers was ineligible to play against her parent club.

The two most historic and successful sides in Scottish women’s football went toe-to-toe at Meadowbank in the aftermath of Storm Eowyn, with Hibs looking to further ignite their terrific start to the year.

Hibs started with a statement of intent, striking fast and hard. Grant’s lofted free-kick into the area was met superbly by the head of McGovern, who swiftly nodded the ball into the back of Lee Gibson’s net to open the scoring on three minutes.

You would be mistaken for thinking the Hibees were on cloud nine after five minutes; they certainly seemed to be headed that way. Another brilliant set-piece into the area by our Irish international was met by Eilidh Adams, who, rivalling her forward partner, set Meadowbank alight with another brilliant bullet header into the back of the net.

Head coach Grant Scott called for level-headedness after the quick-fire double. His words seemed almost prophetic as Emily Whelan nearly struck from point-blank range, before an inspired Michaela McAlonie run had McGovern and Tegan Bowie stretching their toes to almost extend the lead further.

A match supercharged in the opening stages, City did grab a goal back via Brenna Lovera, flicking superbly past a helpless Schumacher to claw back the deficit shortly after 20 minutes.

Adams thought she struck her second of the match after McGovern’s effort smashed off the underside of the bar and deflected off a diving Gibson, but the number nine was flagged offside after drilling her rebound into the bottom corner.

Unphased as they had been all season, Hibs did get their third goal. Ciara Grant delivered another textbook set-piece and McGovern was at hand to smash home; cueing huge celebrations from herself and the home support in the dying seconds before half-time.

Schumacher was active in denying Lovera a second goal after the restart, making herself big to deflect and deny City another lifeline back into the game.

The visitors continued pushing for a second, with Nichola Kozlova inches away from bulging the net. Kirsten Reilly’s noble tackle smothered any immediate danger as the ball deflected and rolled out for a corner.

Both sides pressed equally as hard, resulting in some tired legs come the end of the match, although heroic actions were still spread throughout.

Siobhan Hunter’s expertly timed tackle stopped a dangerous chance in the area, before Samantha Van Diemen sent an effort well wide to sentence Glasgow City to a rare defeat and a result which leaves Hibs only two points away from the league leaders in the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League.