Hearts Women were held to a 3-3 draw by Montrose at Links Park on Sunday afternoon.
There were five changes to the side that faced Rangers in the Sky Sports Cup last weekend. Lisa Rodgers, Georgia Hunter, Jenna Penman, Aimee Anderson and Yeeun Park all came into the starting line-up, the latter making her first start in maroon.
It was an attacking side named by manager Eva Olid, so it was no surprise to see Hearts starting on the front foot.
With the conditions far from ideal, The Jambos would’ve been keen to get ahead early and that’s exactly what they did as Katie Lockwood bagged the opening goal after just three minutes.
Emma Brownlie made ground down the right, before floating a ball over the top for Lockwood. The Hearts number ten expertly controlled the pass before finishing smartly into the bottom corner to break the deadlock.
It was an open beginning to the game and both sides were flooding forward in numbers whenever they got the opportunity to attack.
Hearts continued to dominate possession and gets shot off, but many were from the edge of the box and were either off target or routine for Lauren Perry in the Montrose goal.
Nevertheless, it felt like a second goal was an inevitability and it arrived on 21 minutes. Penman received a pass on the left and her low shot looked to be going wide but as Montrose claimed for offside, Lockwood was in the right place to tap home at the back post and double the Jambos’ lead.
Just three minutes later and it was almost three. Lockwood this time turned provider and her low cross for Danni Findlay was expertly saved from point-blank range by Perry.
Into the second half and the home side managed to get back on level terms, thanks to two quickfire goals just after the hour mark.
Firstly, the ball broke to Jade McLaren on the edge of the box, and she made no mistake as she drilled the ball into the bottom corner, before the hosts restored parity just three minutes later.
Hearts failed to clear a corner from the right and the ball ended up in the back of the net with the final touch appearing to be from a Hearts shirt.
The Jambos restored their lead on 72 minutes when Georgia Timms crossed low for substitute Kathleen McGovern to fire home, but they couldn’t see it out as in the final minute of the 90, Aimee Ridgeway’s powerful strike rescued a point for Montrose.
Montrose: Perry, Carter, McLaren, Ross, Guthrie, Gammie, Taylor, Brown, Bruce, Robb, Ridgeway
Subs: Mowatt, Blanchard, Brough, MacDonald, Culley, Codegoni
Hearts: Rodgers, Penman, Brownlie, Hunter ©, Timms, Lockwood, Anderson, Waldie, Park, Adamolekun, Findlay
Subs: B. Rennie, Morgan, Rennie, Handley, Girasoli, McGovern, Davies, Cowan, Michie
