Partick Thistle 0-5 Heart of Midlothian
By Gethin Thurlow at Petershill Park for Impetus 28/9/25
Above: Carly Johns Celebrates scoring a goal earlier this year Photo: @heartswomenfc on x
Jenna Slattery inspired Hearts as they scored four late goals to ensure a victory in Glasgow, allowing them to keep pace with Hibs, Celtic and Rangers at the top of the SWPL.
The Teams
Dave Elliot brought super-sub Mya Bates, who scored a last second equaliser last weekend against Motherwell straight into the starting lineup. Usual starting defender Kate Fraser missed out however, facing her parent club. Rosie Slater came in to replace her. Lia Tweedie, who had a successful career at Hearts’ city rivals Hibernian surely would’ve been itching to get her name on the scoresheet.
For the visitors, it was a strong team as they looked to insert themselves back in the title race, having endured a difficult start to the season. Form had picked up of late though, and the two Husband’s in the backline had been crucial to this success. Another standout for Eva Olid’s side has been attacking midfielder Olufoasade Adamolekun, who started this game as well.
The Action
Hearts were in the ascendency from the beginning, and in particular Forsyth found herself in space down the right-hand side often, putting in some threatening balls that Partick were able to deal with.
The hosts held a very solid low block when defending, and at times had the whole team in the box almost, but that didn’t mean they played a negative game necessarily. In possession they looked to work the ball around, rather than targeting direct long balls and many teams in that kind of defensive shape would. Bates and Robinson on the wings were also the primary attacking threat from Thistle.
Thistle were able to crowd out central areas of the pitch, hence forcing Hearts to use the width of the pitch and relying on their defence to win aerial duels, which they showed could be done.
This managed to limit the impact of Adamolekun, who thrives on dribbling at the opposition with the ball, and facing a defence sitting back in this manner didn’t suit her. The Jamacian had to drop deep to pick up the ball at all and although her skill was on show, the wall of bodies in front of her never abided.
As the game wore on, Hearts started to switch up their attacks. Trying some early balls over the top of the defence, and even attempting passes through the middle, in the hope of navigating all those bodies. This empowered Partick’s attack, giving them more space and time to work with and they were happy to commit a front-five when going forward.
Olid’s strike pairing, Timms and Johns also dropped into midfield at times, and they sought to disrupt the structure of the home side’s defence and open up any space they could.
Hearts’ first big chance came from a turnover in the attacking, as Partick were caught out passing from the back. Johns squared the ball to Shore, who was open in the middle, but Handley recovered expertly from her left-back spot to block the shot.
As the second half began, Partick looked more like the fully professional side, attacking freely and holding a defensive line, which saw Hearts offside almost any time they approached the goal.
Jo Love, who had remained back with the defence throughout the first 45 was ahifted forwards, and her ability to control the game and recycle the ball to the right choice every time really allowed Thistle to attack in a less rushed and desperate way.
However, against the run of play, Hearts showed their individual quality. Following a Partick Thistle attack, Timms picked the ball up on the left, a few yards away from the box and swung a shot into the bottom left corner, the bounce landed perfectly to beat Currie and Hearts had the lead.
Hearts were settled by the opening goal and soon secured the three points. Slattery beautifully curled a free kick from the edge of the penalty box into the corner and Eva Olid’s sides’ late procession began.
All in the final 10 minutes, Johns scored twice and Slattery added a second, all from close range and the elastic was well and truly broken and the Partick defence caved in.
Player of the Match
Jenna Slattery
The Midfielder came on tasked with getting Hearts past a strong Partick defence which had so far held them to no major chances. In the 32 minutes plus stoppage time she played, they scored five goals as a team and two herself.
What Slattery brought to the Jambo’s was a technical presence, which allowed her to move through that tight midfield, and some clarity in terms of decision making in the final third, which they had been lacking
Where this leaves the teams
For the hosts, it validated their week in training and tactical decisions by Dave Elliot. For much of the game, they looked like an equal match of the fully professional Hearts, and they showed this could be done with possession, rather than just by sitting back in a low block and counterattacking directly like most teams do.
Having held Hibernian for the first half in their earlier matchup this season, Partick have proved that competing with those teams is not out of the picture. However, they conceded five goals in both those games. This seems to show off mainly the fitness difference between Thistle and the professional teams. When matching their opposition in terms of energy output, then they just cannot quite hold on at the end and the results go dramatically against them.
It is perhaps worth considering a slightly different gameplan when they next face a top side then. But overall, despite the result there are many positives for Partick to take.
For Hearts, the result is ultimately most important. The margin flattered Eva Olid’s side significantly by the end, but they should get credit for being able to adapt both tactically and personal-wise to the defence which Partick threw at them.
It is also worth noting that in such a game, it is easy to get frustrated and feel like a goal is never coming, but they stayed focused as ever, the chances kept coming and eventually they were able to convert. Timms and Johns both getting on the scoresheet as your strikers is always a positive thing too.
Teams: PARTICK THISTLE (4-3-3): Currie, Slater, Falconer (c), McCulloch, Handley, Donaldson, Love, Rennie, Bates, Tweedie. Substitutes: King (for Bates 57’) Ferguson (for McCulloch 78’), Syrjanen (for Tweedie 78’), English (for Donaldson 81’).
HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN: (3-5-2): Johnstone, E Husband, Hunter (c), J Husband, Forsyth, Shore, Andrews, Adamolekun, Wade, Timms, Johns. Substitutes: Jardine (for Forsyth 46’) Slattery (for Andrews 58’) Hutchison (for Adamolekun 67’) Waldie (for Wade 78’), Ypema (for Hunter 78’).
Scorers: Timms 64’, Slattery 74’, Johns 80’, Slattery 81’, Timms 83’.
Referee: Ewan Dunn.
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