Title in touching distance

With the Scottish Women's Premier League heating up, there was no time for Hibernian to relax after their excellent win against Newburgh on Sunday; On Tuesday night they faced Hamilton at Stonehouse and there was to be no let up from the girls as they ran out resounding victors and are now within touching distance of the title.

The Hibs coaching team elected to start the game with the same eleven that started against Newburgh at the weekend, playing in a 4-3-3 formation. Hibs looked confident at the beginning of the half and were spraying passes from back to front, indeed they created some early chances with Kim Little and Suzanne Grant all going close. Hamilton were failing to cope with the constant movement of the Hibs players, not only the forward line but in every section of the pitch, Hibs were looking in menacing mood.

The first goal came from a fantastic flowing movement right through the team, Frankie Brown picked up the ball in the left back area and found Julie Ferguson, she rolled the ball forward to Kim Little who slid in Mandy Burns and she took one touch before curling an unstoppable shot to Johnstone's far left, Hibs in the lead and deservedly so. Five minutes later Hibs were two up and again it was the passing movement of the Hibees that opened up the Hamilton rearguard. Shelley Grant started the move off at right back and played the ball through to Julie Ferguson, she again found Kim Little who feed the ball wide to Joelle Murray, Murray crossed for Suzanne Grant to head her 32nd goal of the season

Hibernian were relentless whilst Hamilton it seemed had barely crossed the half way line. Hibs were on easy street and their football reflected that, everyone was looking to get on the ball and one move saw them almost have twenty passes which finished with an unlucky shot from Natalie Ross just going over the cross bar.

The third goal again came from Suzanne Grant, some good work from Kim Little down the right hand side ended with the youngster firing in a cross for her strike partner to first her second of the game. Other chances came and went, Julie Ferguson, Kim Little, Suzanne Grant and Mandy Burns all going close but were denied by the Hamilton goalkeeper. The final goal of the half came from the penalty spot, Kim Little was upended in the penalty box after stealing away from her marker before she dusted herself down and calmly slotted away the spot kick..

Half Time: Hamilton Accies Ladies 0 Hibernian Ladies 4

Half time and this game looked well beyond any sort of fight back from Hamilton, Hibs started the second half a bit sloppy with passes straying – the fluency of the first half was just not there in the second half – with such a comfortable lead Hibs took their eyes of the ball a little. Although not playing as well as they did in the first half, Hibs completely dominated the second period, with Stacey Cook, Kim Little and Suzanne Grant all going close early on, Cook in particular was denied by a goal line clearance

Early in the half, Hibs made two changes Mandy Burns and Julie Ferguson made way for Laura Kennedy and Louise Young. Suzanne Grant almost scored her third of the game following some good work from her sister Shelley, she crossed the ball into the box with Suzanne's header flying over the bar. Hibs continued to press and good work from Kim Little resulted in the striker racing clear but she elected to cut the ball back instead of shooting, allowing a defender to clear.

Hibs dominance was so much that Hamilton barely created one chance in the second half with Natalie Ross, Joelle Murray and Louise Young now in midfield, they pressed the ball well never allowing the Hamilton midfield to come into the game. With just ten minutes to go, Hibs scored the goal that their play deserved for their dominance in the second half, Joelle Murray played the ball into Laura Kennedy, who has just came back on the pitch following a knock, she picked up the ball at edge of eighteen yard box before firing an unstoppable stop past the Scotland goalkeeper.

Minutes later it was Suzanne Grant who got in on the act; she picked the ball up on the edge of the penalty box and curled her shot to the goalkeepers left to claim her second hat-trick in as many games. In the closing moments of the game Suzanne Grant and Kim Little both had chance to score but neither could take them.

This was a superbly dominate performance by Hibs, they looked confident from the first whistle and the kind of form they showed in the first half they look a formidable force, the movement from all over the team was excellent and Hamilton simply could not cope with them. They deserved their win and in truth could have scored so many more, had it not been for Hamilton defender Karen Penglase who made so many timely interceptions. Hibs now look to the Scottish Cup Final on Sunday and if they take these kinds of performances into this game they should be bringing the Cup home to Edinburgh.

Full Time: Hamilton Accies Ladies 0 Hibernian Ladies 6

Hibernian Ladies: Joanne Hutcheson, Suzy Robertson, Shelley Grant, Frankie Brown, Stacey Cook, Joelle Murray, Natalie Ross, Julie Ferguson, Mandy Burns, Kim Little, Suzanne Grant. Subs: Louise Young, Laura Kennedy, Debbie McDonald

A delighted Julie Ferguson spoke after the game, commenting: "We were fantastic in the first half and really deserved to be in the lead by more, some of our passes and moves were excellent, we have changed out formation lately with me, Natalie Ross and Joelle Murray playing as a three and we are working well together and denying teams space – if we deny the space for teams we look up and we have Mandy Burns, Kim Little and Suzanne Grant in the forward line which is a daunting task for any team to handle.”

"Second half we did drop it slightly with maybe one eye on Sundays game – we are now looking for the kind of second half performance we showed against Newburgh and in the first half tonight, if we can play like that for 90 minutes we can be unstoppable. We are defending well all over the pitch, we know the city game will be tough and are looking forward to the game, and we are hoping we can get a result similar to that of the league game, although we know it will be entirely a different game”
 

Richard Payne