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Hibernian welcomed second-place Glasgow City to the Tony Macaroni Arena for an early afternoon kick-off in the SWPL.
City showed some early signs of intent as they worked the ball well down the left-hand side and fired a low cross into Hibs’ box within the opening 40 seconds. The cross was met and well held by Gabby English to deny City from getting a shot away.
There were several turnovers during the opening ten minutes as both sides looked to find their way into the game.
The first real chance of the match fell to Tyler Dodds of City, whose deflected effort flashed just wide of English’s post in the 13th minute.
Moments later English was called into action by making a fantastic save to deny Priscila Chinchilla from opening the score. The shot came after a scramble in the box that saw the ball fall to Chinchilla in a dangerous position. Following the save, the ball came to Aoife Colvill who sent the rebound wide.
It was City who broke the deadlock in the 18th minute through Chinchilla. After some excellent work down the left from Niamh Farrelly, the ball came to Chinchilla on the edge of the box who curled an effort into the top right-hand corner beyond English. An excellent strike to give City the lead.
Hibs tried to find a way back into the match quickly and won a freekick just outside of City’s box in the 20th minute. Siobhan Hunter played the ball into the danger area, but it was well cleared by the City defence.
Hunter was later forced into action at the other end of the field to make a block in the 30th minute to deny Hayler Lauder from getting a cross in.
Alexa Coyle curled an effort on her left foot in the 32nd minute that ended up winning Hibs a corner. The ensuing set-piece came to nothing, however, as City cleared their lines.
City started a counterattack in the 35th minute after breaking away from a Hibs corner. It looked as if Chinchilla would go through on goal, however, she was denied by a 1v1 challenge from Amy Muir on the halfway line.
The half came to an end with the visitors leading 1-0 after a strong first-half performance. Hibs had a few opportunities throughout the first 45 minutes but were unable to find the back of the net.
The first ten minutes of the second half were very similar to the opening ten minutes of the match, as both sides tried to find a way into the game with no real chances to be seen.
It looked as if City were going to double their lead in the 58th minute before Amy Gallacher made an excellent last-ditch tackle inside the box to deny Julia Molin from getting a shot away.
Hibs again tried to find a way back into the match as Boyle delivered a cross from the left-hand side, trying to find Coyle in the 62nd minute. City once again defended well and denied the hosts from getting an equaliser.
This defending proved to be vital as the visitors managed to double their advantage in the 69th minute thanks to a well-placed header from Farrelly. The goal was created by Lauder, who curled an inch-perfect free-kick into the box, which was met by Farrelly and headed beyond English.
There were two great pieces of defending from Hibs towards the end of the match. The first was from Shannon Leishman who made a great challenge inside the box to deny Clare Shine from getting a shot on goal in the 84th minute. The second was from Boyle, who cleared Jenna Clark’s effort off the line, following a City corner in the 85th minute.
City managed to make it 3-0 in the 92nd minute through Lauren Davidson who tapped the ball in from Ode Fulutudilu’s pass from the left.
This proved to be one of the final actions of the match as the referee blew the whistle for full time shortly after.
Line up: English, Muir, Hunter, Eddie, Cavanagh, Gallacher (Adams, 76'), Notley, Murray (C) (Leishman, 73'), Coyle, Boyle, Morrison (McGregor, 57')
Unused subs: Mutch, Malone
Match Report written by Struan Garvie.
Photography provided by Craig Doyle.
