Heart of Midlothian WFC v Partick Thistle WFC – 7th August 2022

The new SWPL season started for Thistle where the previous one had ended, the Oriam in Edinburgh and a fixture against Hearts and sadly the game ended in the same way with defeat for The Jags.

Suspensions carried forward from the previous season denied Brian Graham the opportunity of fielding Cheryl McCulloch, Rosie Slater, Taylor Hamill and Rachel Donaldson and work commitments prevented new loan signing Megan Cunningham from featuring. On the flip side though he was able to hand debuts to goalkeeper Khym Ramsay, Kaitlyn Canavan, Jordan McLintock and Cara Henderson.

Cara Henderson offered the hint of an early chance for Thistle when good work on the left gave her a chance to cross but Parker-Smith was able to collect.

It was Hearts though that were on the front foot in the early exchanges and a series of corners in rapid succession had the Thistle defence under pressure, albeit without any direct threat to Ramsay’s goal.

Gradually though Thistle began to get into their stride and take the game the home side in what was often times an impressive first half showing.

Linzi Taylor had a shot from just outside the Hearts box but in leaning back while shooting she saw her effort clear the crossbar with a bit to spare.

Kaitlyn Canavan was much closer to breaking the deadlock though when she saw her effort, after good work from Clare Docherty, blocked and Jordan McLintock was denied by a good save high to her right from the Hearts’ keeper Parker-Smith.

With half-time just 6 minutes away Hearts though were a whisker away from taking the lead with the ball bouncing off the base of Ramsay’s left-hand post with the Thistle keeper looking beaten.

Thistle would make the most of that piece of good fortune and were able to take a narrow lead into the dressing room at the interval, with one of those aforementioned debutants, Cara Henderson, breaking the deadlock with the first half into its second minute of injury time. She collected the ball at the right-hand corner of the Hearts box and her low drive beat Parker-Smith and found the opposite bottom corner of the net giving Thistle that half-time lead.

Ultimately though the outcome of this game would be determined inside 15 chaotic minutes at the start of the second half.

Just three minutes of the second half had been played when Timms demonstrated too much pace for McGlashan and lifted the ball over the advancing Ramsay to level the scores.

With their tails well and truly up it took Hearts, and Timms, just a further two minutes to score again. This time Timms was able to hold off the attentions of McGlashan at the corner of the box before cutting inside and curling a cracker beyond the reach of Ramsay.

It could easily have been 3-1 a short time later as Ramsay made a good stop to deny Timms once more with Rennie’s effort from the rebound being the second Hearts effort to strike the face of the Thistle goal.

Thistle though were almost immediately handed an opportunity to restore parity. Henderson was fouled by Parker-Smith for an obvious penalty. Captain Demi Falconer was entrusted with the kick, but Parker-Smith guessed correctly, went to her left and pushed Falconer’s penalty to safety.

To rub salt into Thistle wounds, Hearts went up field and were awarded a penalty of their own following a foul from Docherty that Timms expertly converted to complete her hat-trick.

Two behind Thistle fought hard for a route back into the game with Brian Graham fully utilising his substitute bench, but it was all to no avail as Hearts defended well and restricted Thistle opportunities anywhere near their goal. Clare Docherty did have the ball in the net with a close-range header but the ball had already crossed the line for a goal kick meaning that it was a disappointed Thistle side that returned to Glasgow after the season’s opener.