Partick Thistle WFC v Hibernian WFC – 1st May 2024

Following on from an uncharacteristic Sunday off, Partick Thistle kicked off the final month of their historic 23/24 campaign against Hibernian in a midweek fixture under the Petershill lights.

The evening’s opposition have shared a positive season to this point, sat 5th in the SWPL1 standings but just 4 points ahead of the Jags. The quality of the Edinburgh side was recently recognised in the PFA nominations with Jorian Baucom and Grant Scott in the running for both player and manager of the season respectively, nominated alongside Partick Thistle’s Ava Easdon and Brian Graham for the title. The last meeting saw Hibs claim a 2-0 victory against a rotated Thistle side who were gearing up for cup final duty, but with almost a full squad available and 3 points proving massive to the league standings, Partick Thistle were eager to continue their home winning streak against the Hibees.

The tie’s opening quarter proved to be an overall even affair, with both sides challenging the defence of their opposition before being denied by the respective keeper. The best chance for the Jags came from Boyce, whose header towards goal was missing that bit more power to grant the opener before the lunging save from Cunningham denied the pacing break from Hibs. Beyond the half hour mark the game had maintained its quick tempo, with frequent turns of play in the middle of the pitch creating an exciting watch for the crowd who continued to add to the record-breaking season-long attendance figures at Petershill Park.

Pushing towards the conclusion of the first half, the visitors threats towards goal were still evenly matched by Thistle, as the reactions of Cunningham saw the ball forced away from danger before the Jags broke up the park with the cross ball that reached Anderson who had little time to compose a shot from close range as the Hibs keeper advanced towards her, met by the defence who promptly swept the ball away from the attacking third.

Despite a strong showing from the Jags in both an attacking and defensive sense, it was Hibs who gained the goal advantage in the final moments of additional time. Breaking into space, the visitors passage of play ended with the foul in the final third for the free kick of which was sent bounding towards goal and into the top corner for the opener.

The opposition lead lasted for just mere seconds as straight from kick off Thistle pushed straight onto the attack. Working from the back, the ball reached Boyce who had defeated the surrounding purple of jerseys before sending the 1-2 pass to Henderson with the second seeing the curling shot launched into the back of the net from the Thistle number 24, drawing the game back level as the whistle blew for the conclusion of the first half.

With just over an hour played, Brian Graham first looked towards the bench as Thistle continued to work towards drawing a lead from the tie. Aimee Anderson departed the pitch, replaced by Imogen Longcake who would take just minutes to instate herself into the evenings’ fixture. The ball from the back looped over the heads of the midfield before finding Henderson whose neat pass broke towards Longcake in the box for her to fire past the advancing hibs keeper for her 8th goal of the season and more importantly, for the Jags to gain a lead for the first time in the tie.

Despite their goal advantage, Partick Thistle looked not to slow as they quickly returned to the dominant attack, their efforts again rewarded on the 71st minute as they capitalised on an intercepted pass from the throw in that had them now in numbers towards the edge of the box. The first attempt at goal saw a Thistle jersey brought to ground before Boyce picked up the rebound and made no mistake in confirming her 2nd goal of the proceedings to draw Thistle an extended lead with 20 minutes remaining.

The press continued beyond the goal as both Henderson and Lawton drew close to rewarding an attackingly rampant Thistle with the fourth goal before Brian Graham returned his sights towards the bench for the concluding 10 minutes, choosing for Kodie Hay, Lucy Sinclair and Jenna Ferguson to replace Rebecca McAllister and Rachel Donaldson alongside double goal scorer and eventual player of the match Carla Boyce.

Nerves perhaps raised slightly in the final moments of the game as the visitors pulled the advantage back down to one in the final minute of regular time as they broke across the park before Baucom’s effort from distance fell low into the bottom corner for a 3-2 scoreline that remained until the final whistle, rewarding a dominant Thistle with the all-important three points that cuts the gap to 5th place to just a singular point.

Partick Thistle’s next challenge in progressing up the SWPL1 table falls to the other side of Edinburgh as they travel to the Oriam to face Hearts on Sunday, kick off 1pm.