The sun shone on London Road as Hibs Women played in front of our home fans for the second time in two weeks, as we hosted Motherwell at Meadowbank.
After a dominant 4-0 win over Hamilton last weekend, Dean Gibson elected to name an unchanged starting XI for our clash with the Lanarkshire side. Motherwell themselves boasted no less than four former Hibees in their starting squad, with Emily Mutch, Lucy Ronald, Katie Rice, and Carla Boyce all having donned the green and white in recent seasons.
Our first chance of the game came in the eighth minute after Shannon Leishman won a corner. Leah Eddie’s delivery was half-cleared, allowing Joelle Murray to return the ball towards the centre of the box. Nor Mustafa was there to collect, but saw her effort go wide of Mutch’s goal.
After a fairly cagey opening 15 minutes, Motherwell took the lead. A corner came in from the right and after a scramble for possession in the box, the ball fell to Jo Addie who blasted past Benni Haaland to open the scoring.
Hibs drew back level 10 minutes later, with Lucy Parry grabbing her first goal for the club. A brilliant one-two between Nor and Crystal Thomas saw the former released down the right. The striker delivered an inch-perfect cross into the box and the fullback arrived to finish first time past Mutch.

Thomas was a constant thorn in the side of the Motherwell backline and had a great chance to put Hibs ahead in the 41st minute. Nor played her strike partner clean through on goal, Thomas took it round Mutch and had an effort on goal, but a last-ditch block from Addie kept the game level.
After a fairly tepid start to the second half, Thomas went close once again in the 57th minute. The American pounced on a slack clearance from Gill Inglis and looked to test Mutch at her far post, but the strike went just wide of the goal.
Motherwell retook the lead just after the hour mark. Kaela McDonald-Nguah took off down the right flank and made her way into the box. Her cross was parried away by Haaland, but Lori Gardner was there to add the away side’s second of the day.
Motherwell added their third in the 73rd minute. After London Pollard won a penalty for the away side, Amy Anderson stepped up and converted the spot kick.
Hibs would score a spot kick of their own 10 minutes later. After a bursting run up the left-hand side, Parry was brought down in the Motherwell box and substitute Krystyna Freda netted her first Hibs goal from 12 yards.
There was a late flurry of pressure from the home side, as we threw bodies forward to try and find an equaliser. However, despite testing Mutch multiple times in the closing stages, we were unable to find a way through and Motherwell took all three points.
Next weekend, we take a trip north to face SWPL 1 newcomers Dundee United. All details regarding this fixture will be released in due course.