Heart of Midlothian 1-2 Celtic
By Gethin Thurlow (17/8/25)
Above: Celtic celebrate scoring against Partick Thistle in 2023 Photo: celticfc.com
Goalkeeper Lisa Rodgers made some inspired late saves to see Celtic past Hearts as they got off to a winning start in the SWPL and eased pressure on manager Elena Sadiku
Right from the start, Hearts asserted their possession-based style of play on the game. Passing out from the back and controlling the pace, the hosts focused their attacks down the right, targeting Celtic left back Lisa Robertson who was out of her usual midfield position.
Celtic were happy to let Hearts have the ball in this way, and in fact were set up to counter this. Without a traditional striker in the lineup, the Ghirls focused on trying to overload their opponents’ back three with pace and by catching the team out of structure. To do this, they employed an effective high press and passed directly up to the attackers rather than building attacks through sustained possession. This began to work well for Celtic and they created a number of early chances.
Just after the 20 minute mark, Amy Gallacher picked up the ball and perfectly played in winger Morgan Cross, who took one touch before slashing the ball past Johnstone in the Hearts net and Celtic’s season was under way.
During a perfectly timed drinks break, Hearts boss Eva Olid addressed those early issues, switching to a back four to try and limit Celtic on the wings. This change looked to be working well initially until Emma Westin, the left winger for Celtic had a shot blocked, it bounced back to her and she headed towards the goal. The entire Hearts defence watched as it seemingly rolled towards the keeper, but Natalie Ross nipped in just before she could claim it and just touched it over Johnstone.
Well in control of the game, Celtic now began to keep the ball with confidence and managed to play through until half time without any notable chances.
The second half started in the same as the first in terms of who was dictating things, although Celtic were this time sat back in a low block. The aim of their tactic this half seemed purely defensive rather than being a way to score as well, showing that they are able to switch gameplans seamlessly. Despite this, Hearts’ quick passes and fluent movement still caused problems, and had some passes been more accurate they could have easily found themselves one-on-one with the keeper Lisa Rodgers.
A Rodgers ‘injury’ gave Elena Sadiku an opportunity to change Celtic’s approach slightly, and after this they started to push out more, and Hearts’ attacking momentum began to slip away. 15 minutes from the end, Rodgers horribly misjudged a Kerri Halliday cross but luckily for her Claire Walsh was there to clear the ball off the line on her debut for the Ghirls.
As Hearts started to push more desperately, things opened up for them. A Rodgers save denied them, but on the brink of injury time Natalie Ross tried a kick a ball that Eilidh Shore went to head, and Hearts had a penalty. Georgia Timms converted to the bottom left corner and suddenly we were in for a brilliant finish. Jenna Slattery found herself through on goal in the dying second by Lisa Rodgers once again denied Hearts with a great diving save.
For the hosts, it was not the start to the season they were after. They seemed to be caught out by Celtic not competing with them for overall control of the game and it took them until the end of the first half to adjust accordingly, at that point it was already 2-0. Even when they did dominate the game, Hearts were never able to create enough clear chances early enough. The attacking changes did work eventually, but they were only threatening Celtic properly in injury time, which is simply not enough.
While Celtic will be happy with the result, they really should have put the game to bed. Through a combination of not attacking enough and not being clinical, Celtic let the game stay open as a contest, and in the end can thank Lisa Rodgers for the three points. However, it was a good showing for Elena Sadiku, whose tactics worked well and she was able to make adjustments when needed which affected the run of play.
Teams
Hearts (3-5-2): Johnstone, Ypema, E Husband, Waldie, Forsyth, Timms, Shore (c), Andrews, Wade, Johns, Adamolekun
Substitutes: J Husband (for Johns) 69’, Jardine (for Ypema) 70’, Halliday, (for Wade) 70’, Slattery (for Andrews) 78’, Greenwood (for Adamolekun) 85’, Chomczuk, Vilao
Scorer: Timms 90+1’
Celtic (4-4-2): Rodgers, Lawton, Clark (c), Walsh, Robertson, Ross, Nakao, Westin, McAneny, Gallacher, Cross
Substitutes: Streicek (for Westin) 57’, Noonan (for Gallacher) 73’ McGoldrick (for Cross) 86’, Dawson, Richardson, Logan
Scorers: Cross 21’, Ross 35’
Venue: Oriam National Performance Centre
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