Hibernian Women’s head coach Grant Scott was “delighted” with the 5-0 victory over Motherwell at K-Park in the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League yesterday.
First-half headers from Ellis Notley, Eilidh Adams, Siobhan Hunter, and Adams again gave Hibs a 4-0 half time lead.
Stacey Papadopoulos extended Hibernian’s lead to five with a superb header at the back post to round off a great afternoon for the side.
Speaking to Hibs TV after the final whistle, Scott said: “I’m delighted with the result, first and foremost.
“I think coming here is always a test for us; it has been in the last couple of seasons.
“I think you probably saw the difference in Motherwell’s first half to second. I thought in the second half they put us under a lot more pressure. We lost a bit of composure and were a wee bit wasteful at times, but that’s me being overly critical, I think.
“First and foremost, you’ve got the game won in the first half. It’s difficult to keep that momentum going, certainly, but I’m delighted to come here and win by that scoreline.
“I think Ellis (Notley) has been doing well. I think her form has been good these last three or four games. She’s really come into the fore now, probably from a consistent run in the same position.
“Unfortunately for her, historically, she’s one of those players who can play multiple roles and tends to move around. We’ve had to put her in there and trust her to do the job.
“She’s got a great delivery on her, and you’ve seen that again today. I’m thoroughly delighted for her.
“I think we’re in a good place. We’ve got a bit of form back again. I think there’s a long way to go yet for this squad. I think we’re still in little moments. I feel we still need to tidy up. We’re not consistently at our fluent best, probably for many 90-minute periods.
“We’ve seen flashes, brilliant 45s here and there. So I stressed that to the girls after the match today. We can’t afford to let those standards slip. I think you see the threat we’ve got going forward and the threat at set pieces now, and the consistency in our play is starting to come.
“I’m going to keep demanding more from them certainly. I think our standards can go up yet again, but we’re in a good spot. That’s the first round of fixtures over. We’ve seen what everyone else has got to offer. They’ve seen us. We’re ready to go again as soon as we can.”
Hibernian Women now head into the first international break of the season with Kathleen McGovern linking up with the Scotland senior team, while Adams, Rosie Livingstone and Tegan Bowie join up with the Scotland Under-23 squad, and Rowena Armitage making her first Scotland Under-19 squad.
Scott believes this break will be “welcomed” by the remainder of his squad at HTC.
“We’ve still got a bit of work to do next week, and then we’ll get a few days off after that. I think it’s been a hectic first period of the season.
“We probably all need that little break to reset ourselves and get a bit of time away from each other. We’ve been living in close quarters for a number of months. It’s probably come at a good time.
“We need to make sure we’re working through. The girls that are away on international duty – clearly they’re working. So we’ve got to stay on top of our own fitness and sharpness.
“We’ll get the work done we need to do through the break and get a few days off at the same time.”
