Celtic 0 Hibs Women 0

Hibernian Women made the journey to New Douglas Park to face reigning champions Celtic, where the two sides could not be separated after an entertaining 0-0 draw in Hamilton.

Grant Scott made two changes to his side from last Sunday’s Edinburgh Derby defeat as Siobhan Hunter and Eilidh Adams returned to the side, replacing Ellis Notley and Kirsty Morrison.

The first chance of the game came the Hibees’ way. A corner was swung in by Ciara Grant which met the head of the captain for the evening, Kirsten Reilly, whose header was punched over the crossbar by Celtic goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty.

Celtic’s first opportunity came the way of Natalie Ross after 22 minutes. The ball dropped to her on the edge of the box after a corner from Amy Gallacher. Ross took the shot on the half-volley, but blazed it over the bar, which proved no trouble for Erin Clachers.

On 26 minutes, Hibs had another chance. A ball was whipped in by Tegan Bowie which fell the way of Adams, but she could not keep the ball down, and her shot went over Daugherty’s bar. 

There were shouts of a potential Celtic penalty in the 28th minute as the Celtic support believed Amy Gallacher was brought down by Stacey Papadopolous. However, referee Josh Hay disagreed and waved play on. 

There was a change in goal for the Hibees’ after 34 minutes. Keeper Clachers picked up an injury and could not continue, which meant Noa Schumacher made her way onto the pitch to replace the Scotland Under-23 international.

Hibs’ press forced Celtic into a mistake on 42 minutes. Bowie superbly pressed the Celtic defence into giving the ball away, which meant she was allowed to put in a terrific cross which fell to Adams, but her acrobatic strike was pushed over the crossbar by Kelsey Daugherty. 

In first-half injury time, McAlonie superbly turned in the middle of the park, creating space for her to feed the ball to Adams on the right-hand side. The forward hit a powerful strike from distance; however, her strike whizzed just past the post.

The first chance of the second half came Hibs’ way on the 50th minute when McAlonie did superbly to win a 50/50 challenge on the edge of the box, allowing her the opportunity to have a strike on goal. However, the resulting shot was struck over the bar.  

Hibs had another chance not one minute later. Adams played a lovely pass which was not dealt with well by the Celtic defence and found its way through to Kathleen McGovern, who ran in behind before her right footed strike was saved by Daugherty. 

A tidy bit of play from Celtic led to a one-on-one opportunity with Schumacher in the 56th minute, but heroic defending from Hunter stopped any threat of an opening goal. 

Another chance came the hosts way in the 65th minute. Katherine Loferski did superbly well to get past Hunter on the right-hand side before finding Maria Mcanemy in the middle of the box. However, the attacker mistimed her shot and fired wide of Schumacher’s goal. 

Hibs then came back with a chance of their own four minutes later. Adams did brilliantly to skip past her marker and forced yet another stop from Daugherty from 20 yards.

Another big opportunity fell Hibs’ way in the 84th minute. Hunter played a fantastic pass to Papadopolous, who drove forward down the left and played a lovely ball in behind to McGovern, whose shot was saved well by Daugherty, who was quick off her goal-line to stop a potential Hibs opener. 

Two minutes later, and with time running out, Daugherty pulled off her best save of the night. Grant whipped in a superb corner which was met in the air by Hunter, whose header looked destined for the top corner. However, the American goalkeeper yet again pulled off an outstanding save to keep it 0-0. 

In the following attack, Daugherty once again saved her side from going 1-0 down. Substitute Rosie Livingstone raced onto a through ball and got past Celya Barclias to find herself one-on-one with the keeper, but she got down low and saved well once again to keep the sides all square. 

The two teams could not be separated as the referee blew his whistle for the final time at New Douglas Park as they played out a goalless draw for the second time this season. The Hibees find themselves second in the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League after the midweek fixtures.