Scottish Women's Football

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Decisive derby

It's the final Edinburgh derby of the season on Sunday and the last chance for either Hearts or Hibs to take the final bragging rights of the season.

Not only is it a massive match for title chasing Hibs, who risk slipping off the top of the SWPL if they don't win, but also for Hearts if they want any chance of challenging for a Champions League spot for next season.

Hearts were winners last time out at Meadowbank and Eva Olid's side have actually won three out of the last four meetings between the sides in all competitions - including knocking their rivals out of the Scottish Cup in December.

Expect all the drama at Oriam on Sunday.

Big one at the bottom

There's another huge contest at the other end of the table as relegation-threatened Montrose host fellow strugglers Spartans.

There's three points between the sides but goal difference favours Spartans so while a win for Craig Feroz's side won't move them out of the relegation zone, it'll put them in a much more favourable position going into the final three games of the season.

Spartans have come out on top in all three meetings between the sides this season and have scored nine goals but the last time these two met, back in March, Jack Beesley's side had to come from two goals down to overcome Montrose.

Lots at stake at Links Park on Sunday.

How to follow on BBC

Glasgow City's game against Celtic is live on the BBC Sport Scotland website and app when it kicks off at 13:00 BST.

Later on, the Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibs will be shown on BBC Alba, as well as the Sport Scotland website, app and on iPlayer. That one kicks off at 16:10.

There's also live text commentary of all of Sunday's games on the BBC Sport website and app.

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"I needed time to live in it, sit in it and just not speak about it. Now, I feel in a place where I'm quite comfortable with the decision I've made."

Fiona Brown did not take the decision to retire at 30 lightly, but the Scotland international knew it was one that "needed to happen" after recovering from a fourth ACL injury.

The Glasgow City winger endured a flare-up while making her return from the agonising injury she picked up last April and she knew then she couldn't put her body at any greater risk.

"The reason I need to stop playing is because the risk is too high for me," Brown said on the BBC's Behind the Goals podcast.

"There's so much life to be lived after football, I'm an active person, I need that life to be active and I can't run the risk with that.

"It wasn't the decision I wanted to make, obviously, so it was quite hard, but then I needed time to live in it, sit in it and just not speak about it.

"Now that it's out, I feel in a place where I'm quite comfortable with the decision I've made - I know that it's the right one and even if it's not exactly what I wanted, it's what needs to happen.

"I'm starting to get to a place where I'm actually really grateful for what I've been able to do, instead of what I'm not going to be able to do."

And Brown might not be done just yet for a City side who not only sit second in the SWPL, but who have booked their place in the Scottish Cup final later this month against Rangers.

Does one final run-out at Hampden await?

"I'm delighted from a selfish point of view," Brown added.

"It's a potential opportunity to get back to Hampden, but either way we want to win silverware again."

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Grant Scott's nomination for SWPL manager of the year is "a good sign of how well the club are doing", according to the Hibs head coach.

Hibs extended their lead at the summit to three points on Wednesday night by beating Motherwell while Rangers lost to Glasgow City.

With four games left, Scott said "it's the best place to be" but he's far from popping the champagne.

"It's incredible that we're there," he told BBC Scotland. "I think the group's been amazing all season but we know it's going to be a tough job. There's some really, really good football teams chasing us down, but it's the best place to be at this point.

"The whole club's bouncing along nicely on all fronts, ourselves included. The girls are in good spirits, and we've said it for a few months now, there's a good feel around the place when we're working during the week.

"But the squad have stuck together well, we've had some tough moments that we've been through, with tough moments to come but I think that's the strength of the group right now."

The strength of their season so far has earned a PFA Scotland manager of the year nomination for Scott alongside Leanne Ross, Jo Potter and opposite number on Wednesday night, Paul Brownlie.

"It's nice to get the nomination for sure, but I'm just the guy that gets to do the glamour stuff like this and give interviews and whatnot - there's a massive team operation behind me," Scott added.

"So if we won the award, it'd be for them as much as anything else. I think it's a good sign of where the club is and how well we're doing."

On the back of a first top-six finish and a second Scottish Cup semi-final appearance in three years, Brownlie was also shortlisted, but the Motherwell head coach admitted he was "embarrassed" by the recognition.

"I'm a bit embarrassed if I'm being honest, that's just the type of person that I am," he said. "I'm quite humble and I'm somebody that's there to help develop players and that's been a big part of my job the last four years.

"This year has obviously been really successful, the top-six finish, but I'm there because of the players. I've got a fantastic staff group, I've got a lot of support from them so I'm delighted to be nominated."

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Head coach Leanne Ross insists Glasgow City are "not going away" after they leapfrogged Rangers into second place in the SWPL with a narrow win at Ibrox.

The 16-time league winners are now just three points off leaders Hibs, who they travel to face a week on Sunday.

Ross, who won 14 titles with City as a player, is not looking beyond Sunday's meeting with reigning champions Celtic, though, in a race she expects to go down to the wire.

"I told the players in the circle there at the end, it means absolutely nothing unless we go and put in a similar performance and get a decent result on Sunday again," the head coach told BBC Scotland at Ibrox.

"Celtic, we know, will come to Petershill and it'll be an extremely difficult game, but we need to be ready for that and we need to keep fighting because this title race is not over.

"It's very competitive and I think that it shows that we're not going to go away.

"People have been writing us off when we maybe have a poor result, but this is going to go right down the wire again."

It's a result that leaves Jo Potter's treble-chasing Rangers five points adrift of Hibs, though, and with back-to-back defeats in the division.

"We've got to make sure that when we're stepping on to the pitch that we're doing our all to represent this club and fight for titles and fight for Champions League spots and fight for cup finals," Potter said.

"We can't just show it in glimpses, we've got to show it consistently and we've just got to look to do that a little bit better because we've been well short of that the last week."

Rangers host Motherwell on Sunday - a week after defeating them at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final - and the manager is demanding a reaction.

"That's two league games back to back that we've lost and we did that just before Christmas," the former England international added.

"We did have a very good reaction to that post the Christmas break, but we managed to have a Christmas break. We don't have the luxury of that now.

"We need a response, we need a reaction and we need one pretty quick."

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Celtic head coach Elena Sadiku: "It's a great feeling, many times in the game we were just waiting for the goal to come because I think we were really good.

"We've been talking about being clinical and everything around it and for us to get the win this is something we need to build on and keep doing.

"The backline did a really good job, the goal that we conceded that's a handball, but overall we defended our box really, really well."

Hearts head coach Eva Olid: "I'm so frustrated that we conceded in the last minute, it's not fair that we lost this game, it probably was a 1-1 game because both teams had our chances and were so competitive.

"It's done, we didn't take our chances. There were a lot of moments in the game where we didn't control the ball, and we are a team that need to control the ball. It was so transitional and difficult."

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Scotland captain Rachel Corsie made her long-awaited return to action on Wednesday, featuring as a late substitute for Aston Villa in their big win over Arsenal.

The 35-year-old central defender came off the bench for the last few minutes of the 5-2 victory at Villa Park.

It was a first appearance of the season for Corsie, who underwent knee surgery in October.

The last of her 154 international caps came in July 2024.

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Hibernian's Grant Scott, Rangers' Jo Potter, Glasgow City's ⁠Leanne Ross and Motherwell's Paul Brownlie are the nominees for SWPL manager of the year.

Scott's Hibs currently lead the way in a thrilling race for the title as the capital side chase a first top-flight crown in 18 years.

Closest challengers Rangers have already won the SWPL Cup and will meet fellow title hopefuls City in the Scottish Cup final next month.

Brownlie has steered Motherwell to the club's first top-six finish and they also reached the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

The quartet have been voted for by their peers and the winner will be announced on Sunday at the PFA Scotland awards dinner.

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Glasgow City defender Sam van Diemen insists she's "far from done" following her SWPL player of the year nomination.

The Netherlands centre-back, who joined from Fortuna Sittard in her homeland last summer, is up against Celtic's Emma Lawton, Rangers' Katie Wilkinson and Hibs' Eilidh Adams for the award.

"I spent a lot of time on the bench at my last club so coming here I didn't even expect to play this much," Van Diemen, 23, said.

"I was really low on confidence but the players and staff members really encouraged me to get to where I am now.

"My career has had some ups and downs but I always believed in myself. It's far from done yet."

The defender played her part as Leanne Ross' side booked their spot in next month's Scottish Cup final last weekend and she's featured in all 27 league games so far as City look to reclaim the SWPL title.

They face fellow title challengers Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday night.

"Our season has been great, both individually and as a team," the Dutch international added.

"We're still in the race for a double so it's been good. Wednesday night [against Rangers] is going to be a really important one for us.

"Playing at Hampden and Ibrox in one week is really special but we know we can't afford to drop any more points.

"It's going to be a really tight race and there's five games left to fight for. We're comfortable, we know our own qualities.

"We have a squad we thinks deserve to win the league, we have players who know what it's like to fight for a title and even to win it in the last minute of the last game.

"Every point, every goal is going to be important at the end."

Scotland and Glasgow City forward Fiona Brown joins Rachel Corsie and Leanne Crichton on the Behind the Goals podcast to discuss her decision to retire this summer at age 30 after four ACL injuries.

There's also a look back at all the drama from the Women's Scottish Cup semi-finals last weekend.

Listen and subscribe on BBC Sounds

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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As if leading the SWPL by two points with just five games to go wasn't enough of a thrill for Hibs women's player of the year Eilidh Adams, double recognition from her peers has gone a long way to making this potentially the season of her life.

The 21-year-old forward is in the running for the PFA Scotland women's player and young player of the year awards, nominations she says she wasn't expecting at all but which feel "very nice" nonetheless.

She also doesn't mind admitting she wasn't expecting Hibs to be top of the league at this crucial stage of the season, within touching distance of the title.

"It's a nice surprise but we also have a lot of belief within ourselves," she said. "We maybe didn't expect ourselves to be in the position we're in but we know we're capable of achieving big things.

"We've not proven that yet in terms of getting our hands on some silverware but our time will definitely come.

"We've got a lot of young, exciting talent mixed in with all the experience we've got as well. I think you can see that."

It all adds up to a three-way scrap for the title, with Rangers and Glasgow City chasing Hibs.

Team-spirit and unity are key to staying top of the pile, Adams feels, as well as the belief they've built up over the season.

"That's a big part of it, having that mindset, that confidence that we're capable," she added. "We've shown time and again we're capable of coming up with big results against the big teams. We've got our DNA and that's what we stick by."

That single-mindedness, individually and collectively, could result in Adams collecting several prizes before the season is out.

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Celtic's Emma Lawton, Hibs' Eilidh Adams, Rangers' Katie Wilkinson and Glasgow City's Samantha van Diemen have been nominated for the PFA Scotland women's player of the year award.

Celtic defender Lawton made the switch from part-time outfit Partick Thistle in the summer and has become a regular in Elena Sadiku's side. She has featured in the UWCL and also earned her first senior Scotland cap this term.

Rangers forward Wilkinson leads the SWPL goal-scoring charts with 32 goals so far this season. Having joined last summer, she has been a massive part of Rangers' success as their domestic treble hopes continue.

Van Diemen has been a rock in defence for Glasgow City this term as they look to reclaim their SWPL crown. Leanne Ross' side have conceded the fewest goals in the division (14) and are still within a shout of taking home the trophy next month.

Hibs striker Adams has played a huge part in the Edinburgh side's journey to the top of the SWPL table, netting 21 goals in the top flight so far this season.

Adams has also been nominated for young player of the year alongside Hearts' Erin Husband, Spartans' Hannah Jordan and Rangers striker Laura Berry.