HIBERNIAN vs SPARTANS 12/05/2021 - KICK OFF 7:45PM
CLUB DIRECTORY Head Coach - Dean Gibson Assistant Coaches - Roddy Maughan, Neil Ross Goalkeeping Coach - Chris Flockhart Physiotherapist - Claire Rankin Masseuse - Laura Burns Kit Controller - Alan Todd General Manager - Stewart McGuire Secretary - Karen McEwan Chaplain - Catriona Lamont Marketing - Matthew Palfreyman Media - Jack Donnelly, Struan Garvie Creative - Dougie Penman, Callum Hanley
CLUB HONOURS SWPL 03/04, 05/06, 06/07 Scottish Cup 03, 05, 07, 08, 10, 16, 17, 18 SWPL Cup 05, 07, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19
CONTACT hibernianwomenmedia@gmail.com @hibernianwomen 0131 656 7062 Hibernian Community Foundation Easter Road Stadium 12 Albion Place Edinburgh EH7 5DG
NOTES FROM THE BOSS DEAN GIBSON
Dean Gibson shares his thoughts on our recent results, the return of Siobhan Hunter, and our derby against Spartans.
We were delighted to score five goals against Forfar Farmington. We should have scored a lot more, but we also know we let our standards drop slightly in terms of intensity from the previous few games. If we want to have a good chance of winning on Wednesday, we will need to provide the energy levels we have shown recently. It’s great to have Shiv (Siobhan Hunter) back. She’s been back within the group now for a couple of weeks, so it was good to finally see her back on the pitch. Her quality and experience are vital to this group of players - the aim is to keep increasing her game time where possible over the next couple of games. A lot of credit goes to the players for the recent performances. It’s not just been the last two games but the last five. We have played very well and to a level of consistency. It’s up to us to take it into another tough game on Wednesday. The squad’s morale has been fine even before the last two games. As a group we know we have played well, and it’s been extremely small margins that have cost us, some within our control but a lot out with. The one thing we haven’t had to do is pick the players up - morale has been high for weeks. We want to win every game. Would we like to be higher up the league? Of course we would. Although being fourth has a different meaning when you are miles off third, the most important thing for us now is just having a strong finish to the league and that starts Wednesday. We are fully aware of how tough a game it will be but it's one we are ready to take on.
THE CHANGING ROOM SIOBHAN HUNTER
After returning from injury against Forfar on Sunday, Siobhan Hunter spoke on this derby and a busy end to the season. After spending months on the sidelines with injury, Siobhan Hunter made her return off the bench in Sunday's victory over Forfar: "It felt great being back on the pitch with the team. The team have been solid at the back the time I have been out, so I need to ensure I’m working hard to get back in and when my chance comes, I play as well as I can." Wednesday night's match sees Hibernian take on local rivals Spartans, who ran out as 2-0 winners in the last encounter. Despite that, Siobhan is confident that Hibs can get the job done this time: "I think Spartans is always a tough game, they could take points off anyone in the league. The biggest strength for them is going forward, so we have been working hard on that aspect in training and games, so hopefully this time around we can keep it a little tighter at the back. I am confident that we have enough quality and experience in the team to get all three points but we need to be at our best on Wednesday and perform better than last time. It won’t be easy but I’m confident we can get the points needed." Siobhan also gave her thoughts on a busy end to the season teams will be playing twice from now until the final fixtures at the start of June: "I think everyone has seen how much we've struggled with games coming thick and fast. Our injury list hasn’t been great but the players stepping up and performing have been great. Everyone wants to play in these games but it’s important we take each game as it comes and recover as best as we can for the next one.