A controversial equaliser for Celtic Ladies acted as the catalyst as the Glasgow side came from behind to defeat Hibernian Ladies at the weekend.The Easter Road girls were leading 1-0 until the 83rd minute when a controversial goal, which appeared to be offside, allowed Celtic to pull level before two strikes in the closing seconds, consigned Hibernian to their first defeat of the season.

Both teams went into the match locked on points at the top of the Scottish Women's Premier League table and the game lived up to its billing as the game of the weekend.From kick off Hibernian Ladies gave as good as they got against a strong and experienced Celtic side, showing they were in no way intimidated by their opponents in a hugely engrossing and intense game.

The opening exchanges were played at a high tempo and both teams had good opportunities to make the early breakthrough without taking them. Hibernian went into the match without the injured Stacey Cook and her replacement, youngster Rebecca Zoltie, did well in the congested midfield.

Hibernian Ladies attempted to maintain their passing game strategy but all too often a poor first touch or over-hit pass broke down possession. Despite this Hibernian maintained a good shape and always looked capable of attacking with pace. The score was level at the half time break but the deadlock was broken early into the second period when Hibernian went in front.The goal came from a neat passing move down the right flank which set up Laura Kennedy, the striker electing to lay the ball off to Joelle Murray who wasted no time in bulleting it into the Celtic net.

The goal gave Hibernian a big lift and the intensity of the game grew even higher. Celtic pushed hard but could not breech the visitors defence, with the midfield and back four maintaining an excellent shape and Shannon Lynne inspired in goal. As Celtic pressed for an equaliser Hibernian started to exploit space in the midfield and had a number of opportunities to test former Hibs goalkeeper Gemma Faye, but weak shooting let Celtic of the hook on several occasions.

Both teams continued to focus on attack and in the 83rd minute Celtic scored from what looked like a clear offside position. The goal was a hammer blow to Hibernian from which they failed to recover as Celtic cruelly exploited it with two further late goals to seal the home win. After the match Hibernian Ladies coach Jimmy Burns spoke to Hibernian TV.He said: "Perhaps I should have looked to shore up our defence more in the final minutes and see out the game but our defenders were magnificent today and we just needed a wee bit of luck and the important decision didn't go our way.

"All the players should look at how far we have come this season and with a stronger pool of 'A' level players, who knows how far we can go, but Sunday highlighted the need for a strong squad and hopefully our U17's will learn from this, put in the effort in terms of fitness and technique to take us forward.

"I am positive we have a very strong first 11 but we are exposed somewhat in terms of depth of squad and the experience at the highest levels and asking 17's to fill this void is very difficult.Despite this we have made massive strides forward and are not out of things yet and there are many points to be won and lost by all teams in the remaining fixtures."

This weekend coming Hibernian Ladies face a difficult away tie in the Premier League Cup Quarter Finals against Aberdeen Ladies and Jimmy views this match as the ideal way to bounce back from Sunday's defeat. He commented: "On Sunday we play Aberdeen away in the quarter final of the cup, I know we want to progress all the way in this competition and we go there full of confidence having already beaten Aberdeen at the Hibernian Training Centre."

Richard Payne

Then, in a dramatic and delirious turnaround, the Hoops overran their opponents with a never-say-die display of a team that has silverware in their sights.

With Celtic pressing and dictating the play, it was the visitors who got the first break of the game just five minutes after the break when a rare defensive error allowed Joelle Muray to lift the ball over Gemma Fay in the home goal.

The Hoops knew they had more in their tank, though, and produced a thrilling display that had manager Robert Docherty singing their praises.

He said: “This has probably been the best result, not to mention end to a game since I have been involved with the team.

“Hibs have been the team to beat in previous years. Last season they went off the rails a wee bit but they are back in contention with a good, fit, organised team and they made it extremely difficult for us.

“They pressed us and didn’t allow us to play our normal passing game so to be 1-0 down, albeit against the run of play, and for our players to rally as they did in the last half-hour was incredible.

“We made some changes and put Jo Love up front from midfield and it was a fantastic result so all credit goes to the players.”

The introduction of Julia Scott up front proved to be the major turning point in the game and with Rebecca Bisland ruling the roost in midfield, the Hoops turned up the heat on Hibs.

The equaliser arrived just three minutes from the end of normal time when a Lauren MacMillan corner form the right wasn’t cleared by the Hibs defence and Suzanne Grant bravely directed the ball back towards goal where Julie Ferguson was on hand to head the ball home.

Not satisfied with earning just a single point for their endeavours, the Celts fired forward and Scott drove to the byline before crossing for Love to tap home at the back post with just a minute left on the clock.

Still the Celts weren’t content with their lot and Grant and Scott produced some excellent play down the right wing and this time it was Grant who crossed from the byline for Love at the back post once more to make it 3-1 two minutes into time added on.

The girls have a break from the league campaign this Sunday when they take on Forfar Farmington in the League Cup.

After beating championship challengers Spartans 3-2 in the previous round, The Hoops welcome the north east side for the quarter-finals at Lennxotown.