Katey Turner: Hearts prove they can go 'toe-to-toe' with top teams despite loss

Hearts 0-3 Celtic: Hearts “put themselves on the map” despite losing 3-0 to Celtic at the Oriam, believes Jambos winger Katey Turner.

Hearts “put themselves on the map” despite losing 3-0 to Celtic at the Oriam, believes Jambos winger Katey Turner.

Celtic struggled to breakthrough Hearts in the first half, but eventually a goal from Chloe Craig on her 200th appearance and a double Anna Filbey brought the points back to Glasgow.

But Turner said her side could be really pleased with their efforts.

“We were really pleased to come in at 0-0, that’s obviously very promising for us,” Turner told Anyone’s Game.

“We’ve been focusing on our performance a lot for the coming weeks and I think that was really important for us.

“I think [the performance] definitely stands us in good stead for further games like this against tough opposition. These guys are training full-time, they’re training a lot more than us. So I think that we really put ourselves on the map today and proved that we can go toe-to-toe with these kind of teams.”

Celtic remain a point behind Rangers, and five behind leaders Glasgow City following wins for all three sides.

Hearts remain five points behind Motherwell at the bottom of the table, but will take a lot of pride in the way they competed in this one.

Hearts were compact defensively and pressed Celtic well in the opening stages. The visitors struggled to create chances in the opening half hour, resorting to hopeful strikes from distance.

Their best chances came towards the end of the half, with Izzie Atkinson and Kate Nicolson drawing good stops from Charlotte Parker-Smith.

Lisa Robertson tried from distance on the stroke of half time, but Parker-Smith was once again more than equal to it and held comfortably.

Murron Cunningham had a free kick which tested Johnstone in the Celtic goal moments after half-time. However, it was Celtic who made the breakthrough 10 minutes into the second period.

Craig worked a one-two with substitute Rachel Donaldson before cutting inside onto her left foot and firing low into the bottom left corner.

A well worked move led to Filbey drawing another impressive save from Parker-Smith as Celtic looked to increase their advantage. A Donaldson cross was then directed goal-wards by Bartle but her effort was well blocked.

Fran Alonso’s side weren’t to be denied for long though, as London Pollard, another of Alonso’s half-time introductions, drove forward and weighted her through-ball perfectly for Filbey to slide home.

Filbey, Jacynta and Pollard threatened before Filbey notched her second with five minutes left to play, as Pollard’s cross was palmed out to her feet by Parker-Smith and the midfielder made no mistake.

Player of the Match

Hearts’ back four were standouts in the first half, but some tired legs late on were evident as some slackness crept in. Charlotte Parker-Smith made some tremendous saves for the hosts to keep them in the game, but the player of the match was Anna Filbey.

She turned the game around with her introduction at half-time, added much-needed energy to Celtic’s midfield and deservedly ended up with two goals which killed the game off.