Celtic Women have finished off their pre-split fixtures with a 5-3 victory against Hearts. The win moves the Ghirls up to third in the Scottish Women's Premier League, tied on points with Rangers and five points off Glasgow City in first.
Saoirse Noonan was up front from the off for this one and got the girls off to a brilliant start, scoring within 18 minutes. Eight minutes later, she would smash one home for her second.
The visitors would pull one back with 51 minutes on the clock, but Tara O'Hanlon would increase Celtic's advantage again just moments later with her first goal in the hoops.
Morgan Cross scored the fourth just after the hour mark, but took a sore one from the Hearts defender as the ball rolled over the line. She was forced off through injury, but the afternoon wasn't over for the Hoops, with Noonan grabbing her hat-trick and Celtic's fifth goal later on.
Hearts managed to put two more past us, but it was victory for Grant Scott's side in the end.
Noonan proves her worth
After being snubbed for multiple matches, Noonan has now proven why she deserves to play for Celtic. She now has 13 goals for the season in the league, which takes her to a joint third in the top scorers chart.
Noonan led the line well, and she always gets herself into great positions where she can easily knock it home. She is a massive asset to Celtic, and to see her benched for a while was disappointing, especially when it's clear that she still has so much to offer.
With international duty approaching, she will be representing Ireland as she was called up yet again, and some goals while playing for her country could do wonders for her coming back to Scotland.
Concerns elsewhere
After the sore one she took after scoring, hopefully, Cross will be alright and able to continue. She will be able to rest and recover now, since she sadly wasn't called up to represent Scotland, and fingers crossed that she'll be ready to return when the SWPL kicks off in the middle of March.
She has been one of Celtic's most reliable players this campaign, and Scott won't want to lose her at this point in the season. Every match from now on is going to be very intense, especially if the Hoops are to stay in the title race, and we will need our best players available.
Speaking of our best players, we saw Maddi Wilde and Emma Lawton play alongside each other today. When in defence, we transitioned to a five-at-the-back, with Wilde moving to a central position. On the attack, Lawton moved up to offer support while Cross moved into the central attacking position.
This is something we would love to see more as it clearly had the intended effect. Both players looked brilliant, and Wilde almost scored her first goal for the club before it was sadly ruled offside. She has plenty more to offer, and if we do it this way, we won't take away from the amazing talent of Lawton either.
SWPL action returns on March 15.