Hearts Women 5-0 Hamilton Academical Women
12 April 2022Eva Olid made five changes to the side that started at Easter Road last weekend as Vyan Sampson, Gwen Davies, Jenna Penman, Jenny Smith, and Ciara Grant made way in place of Ocean Rolandsen, Shona Cowan, Rebecca McAllister, and Katie Rood.
Monica Forsyth was also brought in for her first start since suffering an injury in the Edinburgh Derby at Tynecastle last December.
Hearts were looking to get back to winning ways following a defeat to Celtic and a derby draw at Easter Road, and they almost got off to the perfect start when after just three minutes, Rebecca McAllister’s corner found Georgia Hunter at the back post, but the skipper could only head wide.
Ten minutes later, Hearts did manage to open the scoring. Emma Brownlie strode forward from defence and found Erin Rennie in a neat pocket of space, she crossed for Georgia Timms, who was already on the move in the box, and was able to beat Accies keeper, Chloe Nicolson to the ball and dink it over her and into the empty net.
That goal was no more than the girls deserved for their start and the first half continued in a similar fashion with Hearts creating numerous openings to double their lead, but Nicolson was in fine form to keep the score down.
Just as it looked as if Accies were going to head into the break trailing by a single goal, Hearts managed to find the second goal to ease the pressure.
Hearts had been pressing the Accies defence well all half, so it was no surprise to see the second goal coming from Hearts winning possession back high up the pitch. Timms was the player who robbed possession and after rounding Nicolson, she squared it for Cailin Michie to tap home.
Into the second half and Hearts continued to dominate possession. The third goal arrived on 68 minutes and what a goal it was. Katie Rood received the ball on the left touchline, and she cut inside before curling a perfect effort right into the far corner!
Substitute Jenny Smith added a fourth with a screamer of her own six minutes from time. There didn’t seem to be anything on for the Hearts number 10, so she let fly and her effort crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.
Hearts weren’t done there either as Rood finished off the scoring in the final minute with a lovely, chipped finish after good work from substitute Aimee Anderson.
That was the last action of a one-sided encounter at Oriam and with results elsewhere going Hearts’ way, they now have a seven-point lead in 4th spot.
Reaction: Eva Olid
"When we played against them the last time we had 24 shots and scored just once," said Manager Eva Olid after today's game.
“In the final minutes of that game, we were hanging on a little, but today the message was clear that we had to score more than one goal to prevent that from happening again.
“I thought Hamilton played better than the last time, but today we limited them to fewer opportunities.
“Today, our objective was to go and win 3 or 4-0 so I’m very happy with the performance.”
Hearts: Parker-Smith, Rolandsen (G. Davies, 56), Brownlie, Hunter ©, Forsyth (Connor, 56), Timms (Anderson, 76), Rennie (Smith, 65), McAllister, Rood, Cowan, Michie
Subs: Rodgers, Penman, Kaney, Smith, Anderson, Handley, G. Davies, E. Davies, Connor
Hamilton: Nicolson, Quinn ©, Coakley, McIntosh, Muir, Giard, McGonigle, Potter, Molley, Sinclair, Pagliarulo
Subs: Ross, Martin, Evans, Christie, Gardiner, Thomson,