Joelle Murray ‘proud’ of players despite narrow defeat for Hibs at Broadwood Stadium

Rangers took the three points at the Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld last night thanks to a Katie Wilkinson first-half penalty. 

After the final whistle head coach Joelle Murray blamed missed opportunities and inconsistency for the narrow defeat. 

“I think frustrating,” said Murray when asked to sum up the 90 minutes from her side. 

“I think it was a game that was extremely scrappy and lacked a lot of quality. I think both teams lacked a lot of control, and I don’t think the officials helped things.  

“But it was a frustrating evening and obviously a frustrating result. 

“I think in the first half, it was a strange game. We had the better chances, but in the defensive to middle third, we didn’t really play that well. In the second half, I thought we did that better but then didn’t create much in the final third, so across the piece, we just weren’t consistent enough.” 

Although Hibs dominated large spells of the game in Cumbernauld, they could not find a way past Jenna Fife in the Rangers goal, and despite that frustration, Murray was proud of the character shown by her team. 

She added: “We’re so proud of the team. I think there are a lot of disappointed faces, and quite rightly so. I think when you play for this Club, there’s a standard that you need to play to. 

“It’s a standard that we’ve seen all season and a standard that we’ve seen very, very recently. 

“They know themselves that they didn’t quite live up and play to that standard tonight, but it wasn’t terrible. There was some nice stuff. It just wasn’t consistent enough.” 

Goalkeeper Schumacher was withdrawn in the second half with a knock following a collision with Rangers’ Laura Berry  and Murray was full of praise for her replacement – 17-year-old Rowena Armitage – who made just her fifth appearance for the Club. 

“We’ve got no update at the moment, but she (Schumacher) will get further assessment,” continued Murray. 

“I thought Rowena came on at a very crucial time in the game, and I thought the actions that she had from coming on to the end of the game were excellent.” 

And she urged her side to look forward to the remaining three games of the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League campaign. 

She added: “We know we can pick ourselves up. The group, they’re hard on themselves, but we’ll go away and self-reflect, players and staff. We’ll quickly come back onto the grass, and we’ll certainly be fully focused and prepared for the last three games.” 

Midfielder Ciara Grant spoke on the frustration of the match. 

“I think we started really well but then the game just became frantic,” she told Hibs TV. 

“I think for both sides, [there was] a lot of fouling going on, a lot of stoppages in play, and I just think we never found a rhythm. 

“At the end of the day we just didn’t take our chances and conceded the penalty, so, we’re just really frustrated. 

“I think we were just a wee bit too frantic on the ball. We were on the ball, high up the pitch but then our execution of passes just wasn’t good enough. 

“It’s not to the standard that we want to play at and I think that is what let us down today really. 

“I think we just need to keep doing what we’ve been trying to do. 

“I think we’ve shown in the last nine games, before this one how much better we are as a group and how much better football we are playing. 

“We’ve really found our identity and we are becoming ourselves again. 

Hibs Women will now have ten days to regroup before Glasgow City travel to Meadowbank Stadium on Sunday 10 May. 

“We know we have beat them this season so we know we can beat them again, that’s what we’ll be focusing on.”