Hibs stalwart Siobhan Hunter says there's 'no excuse' for not backing team in important week for women's game

Dean Gibson’s side host Partick Thistle in the second Hibs Women’s game to be played at the ground this season, with tickets priced at £7 for adults and £3 for concessions, while a family of four can purchase a family ticket for £15.

Over 5,000 fans attended the Edinburgh derby meeting with Hearts earlier this season. There was a much smaller, three-figure attendance this past Sunday when the two teams met again, this time at Livingston’s Tony Macaroni Arena, which Hibs have been using this season as a home ground after their agreement with Spartans to play at Ainslie Park came to an end.

It’s an important week in Scotland for attempting to boost interest in the women’s game with Hibs following up their meeting against Thistle under the lights in Leith by travelling to Celtic Park to play the hosts in the 60,000-seater behemoth of a stadium this Saturday.

Hunter is hoping the familiar surroundings on Wednesday will encourage fans to come out and give the team a big-game backing like they did against Hearts in September.

“It’s a big occasion again, playing at Easter Road. Playing for Hibs as a Hibs fan, these are the moments you dream of as a kid. We want to make this week a good one by getting a win on Wednesday and then take that again into next weekend,” said Hunter, who has been with the club since she was nine years old.

“I’d hope for a big crowd. It’s local so nobody’s really got an excuse. Livingston is a bit further out so it’s difficult for people to get to. We know with Easter Road all the fans are around so I hope they turn up in their numbers because last time it was a special occasion and something we really, really benefitted from, having those extra fans. Hopefully they can motivate us a bit more.”

Hibs go into the match off the back of successive victories, scoring 11 goals in the process, as the 4-1 triumph over Hearts followed a 7-1 thumping of Motherwell.

Overall it’s been a bit of a frustrating season for Hunter and her team-mates. Though they sit in fourth place (about where you’d expect given Glasgow City’s league dominance for the past 14 years and the big investment being made at Celtic and Rangers) there have been a few disappointing results, which have them currently 16 points off the top three. They lost 3-2 to Wednesday’s opponents earlier in the campaign and were beaten by both Spartans and Aberdeen in recent weeks.

However, Hunter believes the team has grown stronger because of the adversity and is now playing some of their best football of the season as they aim to finish strongly in the league and make an assault on the latter stages of the Scottish Cup.

“We’ve been frustrated in some games,” the 27-year-old admitted. “We’re getting closer and closer but sometimes it’s just the tiny little margins you need to sharpen up. We’re closer to the top three not perhaps in terms of points but performance-wise. But it’s against the teams below us where we need to be winning they games. You can’t lose to these teams and we’ll look ahead to next season to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“From now until the summer we just want to win as many games as we can, not slip up anywhere, and just enjoy playing as a team. I think that’s been hugely important in the last two games, how much we’ve gelled. We’ve taken the hits and we’ve learned from them and put the performances in the last two weeks.”

An undeniable positive has been the results against Capital rivals Hearts this campaign. Hibs have won all three meetings, scoring ten and conceding twice. It’s now five successive victories in the fixture after they were humbled 1-0 at the Oriam last season, while striker Eilidh Adams has now netted in four consecutive games against the Jambos.

“Getting the clean sweep over Hearts this season makes it a little bit sweeter,” said Hunter. “The team work hard for these victories. It’s been difficult for us at times being on and off – some wins, some defeats – but these ones are special and as a Hibs fan it’s even better.

“After the defeat last season we kind of looked at ourselves and the feeling it gave us, we didn’t want that to happen again. We made sure it wouldn’t and that we’d go into these games, perform and get the wins.”

Sunday’s fixture will live long in the memory for Hunter as the lifelong supporter took possession of the captain’s armband in the second half when club stalwart and usual skipper Joelle Murray was forced off at the break following a couple of knocks.

“It was really nice to wear the captain’s armband as a Hibs fan and having been a Hibs player for many years,” said the defender. “It’s really special and it was an honour to put it on, whether it was for ten minutes, five minutes, 30 minutes, it’s really special. I’ll cherish that moment.

“I feel I’ve been pretty consistent this season, maybe more than I have in previous years. I’m just trying to learn from each game, each training session and trying to get better. Whether that’s by five per cent or ten per cent, I really just want to learn and take that into matches to help my team-mates.”

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