Hibernian Women secured a place in the Sky Sports Cup semi-finals with a superb 3-2 away victory over city rivals Hearts at The Oriam yesterday.
Georgia Timms opened the scoring for the hosts before Kathleen McGovern headed in the equaliser.
Tegan Bowie and Eilidh Adams gave Hibs a 3-1 advantage before Bayley Hutchinson grabbed one back in the closing minutes of the match.
After the final whistle Hibernian head coach Grant Scott said: “I think when you see your team perform like that, sticking to the instructions we’d given them and then being able to change them mid-game despite after going a goal behind, shows huge character from the players.
“I’m thoroughly impressed with them today, the full squad have applied themselves really well all week, as they do most weeks to be fair, you see the execution of the game plan today, I thought we were excellent.
“We got to the [Sky Sports Cup] final last year and didn’t equip ourselves very well in the game,” Scott continued. “We were all very disappointed, but we used it as a motivational tool last year to push us on.
“The deeper we can go in the competition the better. Winning games is healthy, it builds momentum and belief in the group. There’s three other excellent sides in the draw, so it’s going to be tough either way, but we’re here to play, we’re here to win, we’ll give it our best.”
The teams meet again in next weekend’s Edinburgh Derby at Easter Road. And Scott believes a key factor in swaying the result in Hibs favour will be the fans in the stands.
He added: “I think [beating Hearts ahead of next weekend’s Derby match] is helpful. But it’s a different game, a different venue on grass, a different surface, so there’s a lot of changes in it. Both teams have now had a recent look at each other, so we’ll have to figure each other out and try and adapt a few things for next week, perhaps.
“It’s another tough challenge, but we’re in amongst the high end of the league and getting into semi-finals again, and that’s what this club deserves, this group of players deserve. We’ll hopefully prepare properly and play well next week.
“Everyone is needed, every single part of the team, all the backroom staff, the playing squad, but the fans become massively important on the match day. We hear them every single week. If anyone’s free and wants to come and watch a great match next week, they should come.
“Hearts are a good football side. They’re a very difficult opponent for us. We’ve got an even record in the last few seasons against them.
“It’ll be another good contest, but I would encourage everyone to come and support the team because this group of players are working really hard to represent this club properly. And I believe they’re doing that. And if the fans come, they’ll see that.”
