Partick Thistle WFC v Hearts WFC – 28th September 2025

A week on from a well-earned point in North Lanarkshire, Partick Thistle returned to rather warm home soil as they took on Hearts at Petershill Park.

The afternoons visitor’s were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at the hands of league challengers Glasgow City in what has been an otherwise positive start to the campaign. For Thistle, it was a case of building on the momentum generated from the late equaliser off the bench that saw a valued point gained from a tough opening to their current tenure in SWPL1.

The opening 5 minutes saw a heavy host of possession for the visitors who had floated options into the box from either wing, both instances early in the match dealt well by Thistle before ultimately being met by the offside flag. It wasn’t just all defensive duties for the Jags however, as the play across the park met by Handley on the turn got Bates into a promising position, she set off just too early though as she was the next to be halted by the offside flag.

As time progressed, so too did the pressure mount onto the Thistle defence as hearts dominated their attacking third. Despite this, they hosted little shots towards goal. The closest opportunity came from the Hearts corner which was swung into a congested box.

The first shot deflected from Currie before being pinballed around, fortunately for Thistle the most damaging touch fell in their favour to get it away from danger. It stayed more of the same as the match neared its conclusion of the opening half. Despite claiming the majority of the possession, The Jambos failed to test Currie, with every other opportunity dealt with by the Jags backline. Having waved off loose claims for a penalty,

Hearts were immediately back onto the attacking foot as the pacey move saw the ball slipped in front of goal before Falconer slid in with the pivotal block to send the ball behind for the corner in the last dangerous moment of the half.

Thistle were quick off the mark in the second half with the in-swinging cross from the far side prompting the keeper to push behind for the resulting corner, of which bobbled across the box before ultimately being cleared from danger. It wasn’t without its glimmers from the opposition however as hearts pushed across the surface to stretch the Jags but as featured heavily in the first half, the resulting shot from the  edge of the box done little to concern Currie in goal.

As they pushed into attack, David Elliott first looked towards his bench early into the second half, opting to introduce King for Bates.

Despite the Thistle efforts, on the turn of play it was the visitors who broke the deadlock as they bolstered up the park, the curling finish from distance from Timms firing into the back of the net to put them ahead in the 64 th minute of play.

They didn’t look like they were going to settle with just the one goal deficit, as their next venture into the final third saw the foul drawn on the edge of the box, the resulting free kick from substitute Slattery swirling high above the Thistle wall and into the top corner to double the gap with 15 minutes left to play.

Looking to swing things back into the favour, the next of the Thistle substitutions saw McCulloch and Tweedie exit play in favour Ferguson and Syrjanen. The game unravelled further as a paced team move saw Hearts advance into the box, the last of the passage of play coming from the forceful shot from Johns, who was joined on the scoresheet just moments later from Slattery with Johns’ 2nd sealing a chaotic few minutes for the Jags who found themselves 5-0 down.

The full time whistle brought to an end a game in which despite glimmers of opportunity fromPartick Thistle in attack and a stronghold in defence for well over an hour, was ultimately challenged by a chaotic few minutes that completely buried the foundations against a hearts team who knocked at the door throughout, seeing the Jags falling to the wrong side of a harsh scoreline.

David Elliott’s side will look to rectify their results as they turn to cup duty, facing Livingston at Petershill Park on Sunday, kick off 1pm