Grant Scott has praised young Academy talents Jess Ramsay and Isla Taylor following yesterday’s 7-0 Scottish Gas Scottish Cup third round victory over Dryburgh Athletic.
Hibs played through torrential conditions at Meadowbank Stadium to seal progression to the fourth round over the Barclays SWF Championship side – with seven different scorers settling the tie.
Tiree Burchill, Scarlett Herron, Rosie Livingstone, Jess Ramsay, Siobhan Hunter, Rachael Boyle, and Eilidh Adams all found the back of the net on a rain-soaked surface in EH7.
“The key factor is getting through the next round, all things considered, with the conditions and the players that we had missing today,” Scott told HibsTV.
“We’ve been a wee bit wasteful at times, but I thought that was credit to Dryburgh. I thought they defended really, really well, lots of blocks, the goalkeeper has had a good game. But look, we’ve scored a few goals, multiple scorers, we move on.
“I think it’s borderline disrespectful to say to your opponent we should have scored more, but look, I think we were wasteful in the final area.
“We had several clearer cut opportunities than the goals tally shows, and I think one or two players were a little bit wasteful in key moments. Maybe they had a bit more time than they thought, just didn’t concentrate on making their final connection. So those moments are difficult and those are learnings we’ll take.”
Ramsay, who netted her first senior goal, and fellow Academy youngster Isla Taylor were introduced as substitutes just beyond the hour mark.
Both made an immediate impression – with Ramsay scoring with her first touch – and earned praise from Scott after the match.
“I think both of them in their own right have earned the opportunities that they’ve had. There’s a couple of other ones in the Academy we’re hoping to look at soon, but I think it’s a massive jump from under-17s football to senior football. I think that’s probably something that we need to look at as a league. However, it is what it is just now.
“We’re having to try and manage how we progress them, but I think you can see their composure, their energy on the ball and their bravery to get on the ball and try things. Both of them have worked so hard and it’s been limited minutes for them at times.
“We’ve taken them in a lot of match day squads and probably not had the opportunity to use them, but again today was a perfect chance and I think both equipped themselves very well.”
Defender Siobhan Hunter added: “It was good, obviously we got a clean sheet, lots of goals and I think overall pretty good performance.
“There are little bits that we need to tidy up, but our full aim before the game is to get to the next round and we’ve done that.
“It looked likely that they were going to sit in a little low block but we have to worry about ourselves, make sure we’re doing the basics right.
“I think they gave a very good account of themselves. The goalie was pretty good, kept us out quite a bit and I think they should be proud of themselves coming here and performing like that.
“Somebody said hit the target, which is pretty basic but you know, if you hit the target you’ve got a chance of it going in.
“The goalie did very well so to get on the score sheet today is an honour for me but most importantly we’re in the next round.
“I celebrate every goal just the same, it doesn’t matter who you play. But it’s important that we get the win, get to the next round but just adds a wee bit on top getting the goal as well.”
