Hearts Hammered by Murphy’s Law as Celtic Sparkle in Paradise
Celtic FC Women came out victorious on Sunday afternoon at Celtic Park with a 5-0 victory over Hearts. The visitors of course beat the Rangers in midweek and that result, coupled with Celtic’s 1-0 win over Hibs allowed Celtic to go to the top of the SWPL1.
However the Rangers won 3-1 away to Partick Thistle in the early kick-off so Celtic took the field in Paradise looking for the three points to re-establish the lead at the top of the table.
And a hat-trick from on-form striker Murphy Agnew and additional goals from Tash Flint and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford gave the 3600 Celtic supporters plenty to cheer about on the Ghirls’ first return to playing at Paradise since the closing day of last season.
It didn’t take long for the Ghirls to that return as Lucy Ashworth-Clifford found the back of the net within three minutes, with a cross that found the top corner. Caitlin Hayes sent a driven pass to the winger and although it seemed as though LAC’s floated ball was intended to be a cross, it ended up landing in the back of the net.
Call it a fluke but they call count and Lucy is certainly due a little bit of luck after over a year on the sidelines with an ACL injury picking up playing against the Rangersat Broadwood the Christmas before last.
Hearts failed to impose any pressure on Celtic as we continued to ramp up as the clock ticked on. Within 20 minutes, we were well and truly dominating the game, and we soon had another goal to show for it. Winning the ball back, Colette Cavanagh found herself in a great position and slid Murphy Agnew in behind with a brilliant pass. The forward, playing in the striker position, controlled it well and made no mistake slotting it home effortlessly by stroking into the bottom corner of the Hearts goal. Simple, effective, lethal football from the Hoops.
Agnew would earn a brace for herself as she quickly broke through towards goal. Again, she found the back of the net for Celtic’s third of the afternoon.
Hearts had their first real chance of the game in the 36th minute. Tash Flint attempted to find some space on the edge of the area, but the visitors were able break on the counter. Caitlin Hayes managed to get in front of the Hearts attacker but a mix-up between Kelly Clark and Kelsey Daugherty almost cost us. Thankfully, Daugherty managed to clear in time.
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