Sunday 12th February, 2023 at 10:00pm
Partick Thistle’s Scottish Cup campaign came to an end at the hands of Hearts in a 4-1 extra time thriller at Petershill.
The Jambos started out the more threatening of the sides as Cailin Michie put a shot over the bar in the ninth minute and Jenny Smith’s dangerous cross minutes later was unlucky to land just on the roof of the net.
The Jags found their way into the game midway through the half though as captain Demi Falconer put a header straight at Charlotte Parker-Smith, before the stopper had to make herself big to stop Cara Henderson’s sliding shot moments later. Hearts almost hit back though as Monica Forsyth was through one-on-one with the returning Lauren Grant in the Thistle goal, who came out of her net to see the midfielder drag her shot wide.
Hearts continued to press and Grant had to get down low to turn behind Ciara Grant‘s shot from the edge of the box just after the half hour mark. The opening goal for the visitors came in the 38th minute as Monica Forsyth’s pass found Gwen Davies, who beat Clare Docherty’s tackle, rounded the onrushing Grant in the box and crossed the ball, where it found Georgia Timms in space to tap it home.
Timms almost bagged a brace early in the second half, but Grant did well to get down low to save it. Thistle fought back though as Linzi Taylor pressed well to find a shot, which Parker-Smith managed to gather safely. And their efforts were rewarded with an hour gone as Cara Henderson’s well-placed cross into the box found the head of Clare Docherty, who made no mistake as she headed home.
It was Thistle who would chase a winner first as Rachel Donaldson almost scored a repeat of her goal last week against Glasgow City, but it went just wide.
Hearts would then chase a winner of their own as Grant made a stunning save from Addie Handley, before Smith’s rebound struck the bar. Grant would be kept busy, saving from Timms with five minutes to go, before stopping sub Katie Rood’s effort and thwarting Michie’s resulting rebound. With two minutes to go, Thistle were lucky not to score an own goal as a defender nearly diverted Brownlie’s cross into her own net.
In extra time, Rood delivered a sucker punch midway through the first period, putting the ball over the head of Grant and into the top right corner. And towards the end of the period they effectively killed the game off, as Michie put a well-placed shot into the bottom corner with Grant rooted to the spot.
Thistle had a huge penalty shout in the dying moments as Henderson appeared to be shoved down in the box, but the referee waved away all appeals for a penalty, from which Hearts countered and scored through Ciara Grant.
With the cup campaign now concluded, Thistle can now focus on league action for the rest of the season and can take a huge step towards a top-six finish with a win in their next match against Glasgow Girls. That game takes place at Petershill Park on Wednesday 22nd February at 8pm.
