A tough week for the women of steel was further compounded, as visitors Hibernian narrowly edged a 0-1 victory to end Motherwell’s unbeaten home run in a closely-fought encounter at K-Park on Sunday.
Jorian Baucom’s second-half strike proved to be the difference, as Motherwell failed to capitalise on numerous goalscoring opportunities and were consigned to defeat, with Hibernian securing their third successive victory.
Head coach Paul Brownlie made one change from the midweek defeat to Rangers, as goalscorer Carla Boyce returned to starting XI, with Bailley Collins taking place on the bench. Injury woes have continued to hamper the side, as Morgan Cross, Morgan Hay and Eve Donald continue their return to full fitness.
Eagerly looking to impose themselves from the off, the visitors sprayed several deliveries across the Motherwell penalty area, with Baucom denied the opener early on by Emily Mutch. A skilful turn at the edge of the box allowed Baucom to evade Jo Addie before firing a low strike across the face of goal, but Mutch reacted well to produce a comfortable stop.
Motherwell came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock with unarguably the best opportunity of the opening 45-minutes. Amy Anderson’s incisive through ball accurately picked out Kaela McDonald-Nguah lurking within the penalty area, and the striker expertly shifted the ball onto her stronger right foot, but her dangerous effort drifted agonisingly wide of the top-right corner.
With both sides failing to break the deadlock before the break, Motherwell picked up where they left off, threatening the visiting goal. Captain Gill Inglis’ exceptional solo-run saw the defender cruise past three or four Hibs jerseys, before a late lunging tackle from former Motherwell defender Lauren Doran-Barr, denied Inglis from getting a shot on goal.
Inglis was again called into action moments later, this time at the other end of the pitch, as Abbie Ferguson’s driving run on the counter-attack allowed the midfielder to coast into the Motherwell penalty area, but a late tackle from Inglis diverted Ferguson’s effort wide of the target.
With both sides looking evenly-matched throughout and the game seemingly destined for a closely-fought stalemate, the visitors found the breakthrough.
Ferguson’s through ball from the right fell kindly to the feet of Baucom deep inside the Motherwell penalty area, and a clever turn allowed her to escape pressure from Chelsie Watson and Amy Anderson before picking out the top-left corner with an unstoppable strike.
Brownlie’s side pushed forward until the final whistle, but were unable to find the eventual equaliser and were consigned to defeat. The squad will now face a short international break before returning to cup action, with Montrose standing in their way of a place in the next round.