Heart of Midlothian 1-1 Celtic: Caitlin Hayes’ strike rescues Celtic a point in Edinburgh
By Ethan Barlow
Celtic drop points to fall further behind league leaders Rangers, who beat Hamilton 4-0 to move three points clear at the top. Hearts put in an impressive display to hold Fran Alonso’s side to a draw amid strong rumours that the Spaniard may be leaving Glasgow to take on challenges elsewhere. Here are some of the key takeaways from the match:
Possibly Fran Alonso’s final match doesn’t end with a victory
It looks like Alonso is likely to move on from Celtic, and in possibly his final match in charge, you would’ve expected a win, as it’s something the Ghirls have got very used to under the Spaniard.
The Jambos had the lead inside 10 minutes through Georgia Timms as the striker netted her seventh goal of the season. Hearts were very competitive in the match, especially in the first half, but Celtic found an equaliser in the opening ten minutes of the second period through Caitlin Hayes, for the reigning PFA Player of the Year’s eighth goal of the season. The draw means Rangers open up a slightly bigger gap at the top, but it’s all still to play for and it’s likely the title race will go all the way to the final game of the league campaign.
Hearts are possibly ‘the best of the rest’ as they fight for fourth
Hearts’ point moves them up to fifth. They sit in the middle of what looks to be their competition for fourth place behind Glasgow’s big three. Hearts’ rivals Hibernian sit two points ahead of the Jam Tarts after they thrashed Aberdeen 7-0 on the road. The third horse in the race for fourth is Patrick Thistle, who were beaten 6-0 at Glasgow City on Saturday, as now just two points split the three teams mentioned. With seventh-placed Aberdeen sitting eight points behind Hearts and Thistle, these three will likely make the charge for the ‘the best of the rest’ title.
TABLES | Here's the updated @ScottishPower Women's Premier League table ⬇@RangersWFC remain top and now three points clear 🔝
— Scottish Women's Premier League (@SWPL) December 17, 2023
Just 2⃣ points between 4th and 6th 🤏
Only 1⃣ point between 9th and 11th 🤏
What a 2024 we have ahead of us... 👀 pic.twitter.com/FtpjgYUvzE
Fran Alonso gave his post-match thoughts on possibly his last in charge of the Ghirls
Alonso said: “I think the first-half performance was very poor from us, in the same way as the last league game.”
The Celtic boss spoke on why top-scorer Amy Gallacher didn’t play a part in the game: “Amy has been sick, in the last couple of days she couldn’t train.”
Alonso mentioned his team’s resilience to get the point: “It’s a shame we couldn’t come back because I liked the spirit and fight we showed in the second half. We just lacked a little quality in key moments.”
This was the Ghirls' last match of the year. Their next game is a Scottish Cup third round tie at Ayr United.