HOLDERS Hibernian were joined by Glasgow City, Celtic and Spartans in the SWPL Cup semi-finals after all four won their last-eight ties comfortably yesterday. They also occupy the top four places in the league.
Celtic beat Hearts 4-1 as winger Kirsty Howat, who started instead of the injured Sarah Crilly, made a point by providing three assists and scoring the fourth goal in the win over the only SWPL2 side still in the competition.
Two first-half goals both came from Howat corners. Hearts captain Louise Moultray was unlucky to turn the first into her own net, and Kerry Montgomery scored from the second. Sarah Ewens, who joined from Hibs in the winter, got off the mark for Celtic when she headed home Howat’s cross. Then the latter rounded off her player-of-the-match performance by scoring with a shot from 20 yards. Hearts got a late consolation through 17-year-old substitute Lauren Hill.
“It has been a long time coming, so I was pleased to get off the mark,” striker Ewens said. “We knew it was going to be tough because Hearts sat back a lot and were hard to break down. It took us a while to finally get through them and we had to work for it. It’s a shame we didn’t keep a clean sheet, but we played well and are through to the semis.”
Hearts head coach Andy Enwood said: “It would have been easy to crumble when the third goal went in but we didn’t. If the players show the same work rate, desire and togetherness we’ll give ourselves a right good chance in SWPL2.”
In a recent league game, Glasgow City beat Stirling University 7-0, but it took them 44 minutes to find the net against the same team at the Excelsior. Noelle Murray was the scorer with Hayley Lauder adding a second after the interval.
Spartans beat Aberdeen 4-1 in the first game of a double-header at Ainslie Park, with Simone McMahon, Alana Marshall (2) and Zoe Johnstone getting the goals. Hibs then beat Rangers 5-0 after Amy Gallacher, Abi Harrison with a double, Lucy Graham and Katey Turner found the net.
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