Partick Thistle WFC v Hearts WFC – 10th December 2023

After three weeks of clocking up the miles on away fixtures, Partick Thistle Women returned to Petershill Park for the first time in 28 days to take on Hearts in their bid to make it six wins in six for the red and yellow.

The afternoon’s opposition have posed a positive season so far, going into the match 6 th in the SWPL1 table on a total of 23 points. In the reverse of this fixture, the Jambos handed a heavy defeat to the Jags who were feeling the effects of a congested run of games as they looked to reverse this to continue the push towards the top three.

Thistle were left without the services of Shona Cowan through her ineligibility to face her parent club. Elsewhere, Ava Easdon marked her return to the starting eleven as did current top scorer Henderson, with Sinclair being the last of the changes as she replaced the injured Adams.

From kick off, a Thistle side of who had been notorious for their strong attacks and high goal returns recently had to prove their defensive abilities as Hearts started off strong. 4 minutes into play and off the back of a thistle press, the ball made its way towards Hearts’ Lockwood who had gotten into a one-on-one situation before slotting the ball low beyond the reach of Easdon and gave the away side the lead as they wheeled away in celebration.

In the minutes that followed, Thistle had looked not to be deterred as they made more frequent attacks in dangerous areas, rewarded in the twelfth minute of play as Henderson hooked the ball
across goal which found the space for Longcake to nudge the ball over the line. Whilst being contested by the opposition and applauded by the Jags, the referee quickly referred to the assistant before signalling to the centre circle, firmly putting Partick Thistle back into the tie which had thrown up an action-packed opening 15 minutes.

The reintroduction of the deadlock didn’t slow the Jags as they too made multiple progressions towards goal, the closest of these when the ball reached Donaldson who was in short range to goal but couldn’t get the shot away before being closed out by the inbounding Hearts defence. Just moments later she would fall foul to a mistimed challenge, leaving for a pause in play for treatment. After being deemed able to continue and sharing a quick acknowledgement with the opposition player, play continued where Thistle immediately looked to continue the attack from where it had left off.

With 45 minutes on the clock, Hearts’ Lockwood was brought to ground just out with the box. Despite the thistle wall stood in front of goal, Grant converted the free kick into the back of the net to hand the advantage to the Midlothian side. With both teams headed towards the dressing room, Thistle were unfortunate to be behind at the conclusion of the first half. They were strong in possession and had worked well to prevent the threats of attack from the opponents but despite the scoreline the match was still all to play for in the second half.

Returning to the rain soaked Petershill surface, Thistle’s attacking efforts were eventually but only momentarily rewarded on the hour mark as they had equalised through Taylor who had met the ball played in from Slater at the post. The celebrations were cut short however, as almost immediately after it struck the back of the net the referee overruled the effort and instead awarded Thistle a corner kick, much to the collective bemusement of the thistle players who didn’t let the decision deter them and carried on the fight to draw back level.

From the goal being disallowed, Partick Thistle stayed in dominant possession having hosted a free kick outside of the area that forced the hearts keeper to collect the ball amongst a sea of surrounding jerseys. From this however, Thistle’s misfortunes continued to grow as the goal kick made its way to the hearts striker who put the ball in the back of the net despite Easdons best efforts in the 66th minute, and even further just moments later as the Jags were reduced to ten through captain Falconer’s challenge close to the halfway line that saw her sent off of the pitch.

The challenges kept coming for the Jags side who had felt the effects of being a player down as the goal advantage tripled for the Jambos before the 70th minute. The resulting free kick from the red card was sent into a congested box, leaving it to be poked in from close range to make what was a deadlock minutes prior, a comfortable advantage for the visitors with twenty minutes to play.

In a sentiment that reflected the game, the goal ruling became game defining for thistle as the minutes of chaos that ensued confirmed their first league defeat since October 15 th . The scoreline was inarguably not a reflection of the performance however as in a game that quickly became that of one of two halves from minute 1 to 60 and the final half hour, Thistle were a strong presenting side that showcased their ability to both defend well and capitalise on attacks towards the opposition goal as the Jags remain a point above Hearts in the league table in 4th place.

Partick Thistle Women will look to rectify and regroup from the match as they face their current nearest rivals in the SWPL1 standings, Glasgow City, in an ‘away match’ at Petershill Park on Sunday December 17th at 1pm.