Hearts 1-0 Celtic – Dreadful in the first half, wasteful in the second | OneFootball

Celtic suffered their first domestic loss of the season as Hearts beat Elena Sadiku’s side 1-0 in the capital…

Kayla Jardine shoots at goal and sees her shot deflected by Maria McAneny into the Celtic net during the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 1 match between Hearts and Celtic at Oriam Sports Performance Centre,  on 13 October 2024. Photo Malcolm Mackenzie(© ScottishPower Women’s Premier League | Malcolm Mackenzie)

Kayla Jardine’s shot was deflected past Kelsey Daugherty in the first half by Maria McAneny to give the hosts the lead, and the Celts couldn’t find a way back into the game after the manager was forced to press the emergency reset button at the internal pulling off the Carstens twins, who both looked well off the pace, and also young Morgan Cross who failed to make an impact.

The three subs coming on – Noonan, Agnew and Cavanagh at the break, were joined by Gallacher and Ashworth-Clifford on the hour mark but despite a marked improvement in energy and actually playing some football, chance after chance was wasted with the Irish striker being the biggest culprit.

Bayley Hutchison holds off Kelly Clark during the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 1 match between Hearts and Celtic at Oriam Sports Performance Centre on 13 October 2024. Photo Malcolm Mackenzie / ScottishPower Women’s Premier League © ScottishPower Women’s Premier League | Malcolm Mackenzie

Saoirse Noonan came close on two occasions but it went wide both times, and Amy Gallacher shot looked goal bound all the way but scratched the outside of the post. Even when Agnew did brilliant to dispossess former Celt Johnstone in the Hearts goal the ball seemed to spin back into the keepers arms much to the disbelief of the Celtic striker who was expecting a tap-in.

Kelly Clark’s lack of pace at the back is an often unspoken weakness in this Celtic defence but Hearts were playing on it throughout the second half and on at least three occasions they could have finished the game on the counter. Kelsey Daugherty deserves credit for keeping Celtic in the game to the final whistle.

This defeat leaves Elena Sadiku’s Champions in 5th place, six points behind theRangers, who lead the pack. Celtic do have a game in hand but also have an unbelievably tough schedule. The rotation plan has worked so far but backfired today with so many players found wanting in that dreadful first forty four and three quarters minutes as even the referee had had enough and blew up early.

“The first half is the worst performance I have seen,” Elena Sadiku told Celtic TV in her post-match video interview  “It was not Celtic at all. There was no energy, no confidence. I don’t know why. That is something that got fixed in the second better where it was much better. There was only one team on the pitch and we created enough chances to win the game but unfortunately it was not to be.

“It is not good enough. I am just happy that we have players coming back who have energy like Amy Gallacher and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford, important players for us. I am very disappointed but we need to learn from this and make sure it never happens again – I will make sure it never happens again.”

Celtic Star Editor

Jessica Elliott’s View – Uninspired Celtic

Celtic seemed incredibly uninspired at Oriam. From players making simple mistakes to Noonan’s painfully close misses, it seemed that everything that could have gone wrong did.

Hearts have been incredible this season and their squad is a vast improvement from last season. It was like we couldn’t match them today, even though Celtic are the ones with the SWPL trophy in our cabinet.

Bayley Hutchison runs past Caitlin Hayes during the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 1 match between Hearts and Celtic at Oriam Sports Performance Centre on 13 October 2024. Photo Malcolm Mackenzie (© ScottishPower Women’s Premier League | Malcolm Mackenzie)

I don’t think we started with the wrong team. That is a team that should be capable of getting a result. I see a lot of people criticising team selection, and I’ve been one of them on occasion, but there were one or two players that I would’ve changed, not as many as people seem to imply.

With that being said, we were really lacking creativity today. The players who you can usually rely on, like Signe Carstens, just weren’t on the ball in that regard.

Champions League on the horizon

With Champions League on the horizon, preparation needs to be had. If we’re not careful, we could suffer heavy defeats to Chelsea when we play them back-to-back. We’ve not looked great recently, and they continue to look like one of the best teams in the world that they’re supposed to be according to UEFA rankings. Their last two games have been wins over Real Madrid at home and title rivals Arsenal at The Emirates, played before a crowd of over 40,000.

Bayley Hutchison sees her shot saved by Celtic goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty during the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 1 match between Hearts and Celtic at Oriam Sports Performance Centre on 13 October 2024. Photo Malcolm Mackenzie (© ScottishPower Women’s Premier League | Malcolm Mackenzie)

Celtic travel to face Real Madrid on Thursday and I really hope we can put in a good showing against a European club. Bouncing back from a defeat to Hearts with something, even a good performance, against Real would be legendary.

Elena Sadiku was very angry with her team after today’s game and the hairdryer treatment in the dressing room might have been called for in Edinburgh this afternoon.

Celtic in danger of trailing off

We need to be careful now that we don’t trail off. We sit six points behind Jo Potter’s Rangers side and they have +30 goal difference over us.  Celtic do have that game in hand though. Considering that’s how the title was won last season, that’s incredibly concerning.

But it’s only 10 games into the season, and Celtic have only played nine, so we can’t speak too soon. There is more than enough time, and more than enough derbies, for the Celts to pull themselves back and I hope that we’ll do it.

Yesterday’s result went our way and opened the door for Celtic to be back at the top of the table later this month. However it was not to be today but as always, the Ghirls will bounce back!

Jessica Elliott

SWPL1 Table – grim reading

SWPL1 Champions Celtic are in 5th place after the results today, having played a game less than the four sides above us.

Celtic’s hectic upcoming fixture list

This is quite incredible really…

Real Madrid Femenino  v Celtic FC Women –  UWCL – Thursday 17 October (5.45pm)

Celtic FC Women v Spartans – SWPL1 – Sunday 20 October (2pm)

Celtic FC Women v Queens Park  – SWPL1 – Wednesday 6 November (7.15pm)

Celtic FC Women v Glasgow City – Sky Sports Cup – Sunday 10 November (4.10pm)

Celtic FC Women v Chelsea – Celtic Park – UWCL – Wednesday 13 November  (8pm)

Celtic FC Women v theRangers – SWPL1 – Sunday 17 November – (12noon)

Chelsea v Celtic FC Women  – Stamford Bridge – UWCL – Wednesday 20 November – (8pm)

Celtic FC Women v Montrose – SWPL1 – Sunday 24 November (1.15pm)

*All Celtic FC Women home games at New Douglas Park, Hamilton unless otherwise stated.

Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books. ORDER NOW!

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