Another six for Ladies

After the highs of knocking out Glasgow City and progressing into the Final of the Premier League Cup, it was back to league business for Hibernian Ladies on Sunday when they travelled to face Kilmarnock Ladies. Confidence in the camp could not have been higher as the girls march on undefeated and Kilmarnock were no match on the day for Scotland's Champions.

After suffering from concussion following a head knock in the City game, the Hibernian management were taking no risks with Joelle Murray and the youngster had to settle for a place on the bench with her replacement coming in the shape of Laura Kennedy. Hibs picked up against Kilmarnock where they left off in midweek against Glasgow and took an early lead after a flowing move involving Shelley Kerr, Natalie Ross and Julie Ferguson saw the chance created for Suzanne Grant and she made no mistake, firing her side in front.

Rather than pushing forward for more goals, Hibernian were finding it difficult to get out of defence as Kilmarnock piled on the pressure. Instead of growing with confidence following the early goal, Hibs looked nervy and were inviting Kilmarnock onto them with Jo Cooper almost firing the home side level. Stacey Cook then gave away a free kick on the edge of the box, McCombe played a neat cross into the back post where Jo Cooper evaded her marker to score.

It was unfamiliar territory for Hibs as they were pinned back in defence and the clearances were becoming more and more desperate as Kilmarnock threatened to overrun the Edinburgh side. Eventually the Hibees regained their composure and created chances but Suzanne Grant, Mandy Burns and Laura Kennedy all passed them up. Half time could not come quick enough for Hibernian with many players performing far below expected standards.

Half Time: Kilmarnock Ladies 1 Hibernian Ladies 1

Hibernian came out a different side for the second half after some stern talking from Maggie Wilson and Shelley Kerr at the Interval and there was a greater urgency to the Hibs play, almost scoring early on as Suzanne Grant ran onto Julie Ferguson's pass before firing wide of goal from a good position. Further chances were created with Kim Little, Suzanne Grant and Julie Ferguson all going close without taking any of them.

On the hour Maggie Wilson decided to change things and brought on Joelle Murray and Frankie Brown for Pauline Hamill and Laura Kennedy. Joelle Murray made an impact as her run and cross set up Suzanne Grant to fire her side in front again. It did not take Hibernian long to grab a third goal as Kilmarnock began to collapse, Suzanne Grant dropped deep to receive the ball, she then turned her marker beautifully to pass to striker partner Kim Little who returned the favour and Hibs top scorer made no mistake as she fired the ball low into the net to complete her hat-trick.

Hibernian were completely dominating the proceedings and they scored a fourth when Frankie Brown found Kim Little wide left, the youngster slipped the ball beyond her marker before cutting inside an unleashing an unstoppable shot into the back of the net. Suzanne Grant scored the fifth goal, her fourth of the match after getting into the end of a Joelle Murray cross before Stacey Cook smashed a Kim Little corner into the net to complete the scoring.

The game finished 6-1 and for periods in this game Hibs were out played as they failed to cope with the physical nature of Kilmarnock. However, once Hibs stepped up their performance in the second half there was only going to be one winner. Hibs deserved their win but did make hard work of it; next up for Hibs is Glasgow City and if they repeat the first performance of Sunday, it could cost them dearly.

Hibernian Ladies: Gemma Faye, Shelley Kerr, Julie Ferguson, Stacey Cook, Kirsty McBride, Natalie Ross, Kim Little, Mandy Burns, Pauline Hamill, Laura Kennedy, Suzanne Grant. Subs: Suzy Robertson, Frankie Brown, Joelle Murray.

Ahead of her International double header against Slovakia and Denmark, Midfielder Julie Ferguson commented: “It was a hard fought and very physical game on Sunday. After we scored I thought we would go on to win the game convincingly however, we dropped our focus and too many players weren’t competing, it almost cost us in the first half. Our coaches were great at half time; they were very calm and let us know what was expected of us.

"I think second half we showed just what kind of team we are, we did dominate the half, in particular the last 30 minutes when Joelle and Frankie came into the game, it gave us pace on the wings and that made an impact. We are delighted with the win and once again showed our battling qualities, it’s not always going to be pretty football! Going into the international break its important we remain close to Glasgow City who we have to play in two weeks."

Richard Payne

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Killie crash at home to champions Hibs!

FC Kilmarnock Ladies welcomed League Champions Hibs Ladies to Blair park Hurlford on an afternoon where both clubs showed support to “Show Racism the Red Card” prior to the match, by holding up red cards together before kick off.

Killie started the match badly with Hibs quick off the mark to score within the first five minutes, when Suzanne Grant burst in past the defence to slot home the opener. Killie 0, Hibs 1.

It was a disappointing start against a team unbeaten in the league for over two years and Killie knew that if they wanted anything at all from the game they had to switch on. In patches in the first half Killie played some good football and were making some good moves at times. Although for every good move created, it would be spoiled in a way with poor decision making and sloppy play with Hibs almost doubling their lead with a couple of good chances falling to Suzanne Grant and Stacey Cook. Killie got a goal though, when Claire McCombe whipped in a great free kick from the right hand side, which was meet with a fantastic header by the recalled Sharon Hughes who put the ball over Hibs Keeper Gemma Faye. Killie 1, Hibs 1.

Both Laura Cooper and Jo Cooper worked extremely hard up front trying to make the difference and get on the end of some good balls from the midfield. Corner kicks from Killie again were a non event, with no movement in the box and poor delivery giving the Hibs defence an easy task to clear. Jo Cooper had a great chance near the end of the half when she burst clear of the Hibs defence from the half way line, unleashed a shot only for it to go agonisingly over the bar. Before Hibs could even think about what had just happened Laura Cooper gave the Hibs defence the run around by going on a dummy run, allowing Jo Cooper in again and amazingly the ball sailed over the bar again. 2 great chances that Killie had to be taking in a tough contest.

Half Time: Killie 1, Hibs 1.

The second half saw Killie Manager Robert Connelly make an enforced change, taking off Toni Mason for Lindzi Bayne. A change that was grudgingly made, as she had stood out first half against a talented Hibs Midfield. The second half saw both teams start a little slow, but Hibs made the break through going 2-1 up after poor marking at a corner allowed Cook in to score. Killie 1, Hibs 2.

The best chance after the Hibs goal was made by Lindzi Bayne who burst past the Hibs full back Julie Ferguson only to use the wrong foot to hit the ball past the post. A theme of missing chances is again evident for the third game running for Killie. With both teams getting tired in the second half both teams made substitutions to go all out to win the game, with fresh legs. It was the fresh legs of Murray for Hibs who slipped in behind Chloe Quinn at the back post to score the killer third goal. Killie 1, Hibs 3.

After the third goal Killie’s heads were down and lost a further 3 goals to give Hibs another League win that looked on paper an easy 6-1 result in their favour. A disappointing end to a match where Killie even in 2nd gear had Hibs level at half time, but in the end Hibs wanted the win more and deserved not only the 3 points but each of the goals they got as they played the full 90 minutes.

Final Score: Killie 1, Hibs 6.

Killie Team: Dorrans, Smith, Quinn, Heggarty, Burns ©, Hughes (Munro), McCombe (Forsyth), Mason (Bayne), McLaughlin (L. Ferguson), J. Cooper & L. Cooper (Kelly).
Subs not used: C. Ferguson & Docherty.

After the match Killie Assistant Manager Gordon Cunningham said “ First half I was wondering where’s the team that was at Glasgow green last week? As only 1 change was made to the team from last week, we prepared well, trained well, seemed motivated enough before the match, but as soon as the girls stepped over those white lines all their hard work went out the window, because as a team we did not stick to what we knew we had to do and had planned to do. We created some great chances first half, but again we failed to take them, so it is something we as a team have to address, as is the mistakes that we made to gift them opportunities. The last 25 minutes or so in the second half is simply not good enough and the girls were told that after the match. If we are going to make silly mistakes against any team in this league we need to expect to be punished and we were today. Mistakes win and lose football matches, but what the manager and I will not accept is simply giving up, which is what we done after the 3rd goal went in. As the old saying goes “You only get out a game what you put in” , a phrase that will be used a lot between now and our next match. Its disappointing as we had been playing well recently, but we will bounce back from this defeat and the Manager and I will be looking for a reaction not just in the next match, but starting on Tuesday at training.