Hearts manager Eva Olid “happy” with performance despite Edinburgh derby defeat

The Jam Tarts lost their first fixture against Hibs in five games as Abbie Ferguson’s effort was enough to see out a 1-0 victory at Tynecastle. The result was no doubt a setback for Hearts who looked to assert their dominance over the rivals after a sensational rise over the past year. However, last season’s achilles heel returned to haunt Olid on Sunday as her side was unable to put the ball into the net despite a host of good chances.

“I am happy with the performance of the team,” the manager told the Edinburgh Evening News. “We played a possession game, nice football but we didn’t score our opportunities and football is about who scores more goals. Hibs scored a set play and won the match. Simple.

“We had such clear opportunities and that is frustrating. If you don’t have opportunities and lose the match, you think we did have the chance to win the match but when you have a lot and you lose the game, it’s hard.”

Hearts had seemingly put their poor ratio in front of goal behind them this season with clinical forwards such as Katie Lockwood, Kathleen McGovern and Danni Findlay all joining the club in the summer. Goals came soon after with Jambos netting 10 goals in the opening four fixtures including three against Dundee United and four against Hamilton. However, despite a flurry of chances at Tynecastle, the hosts could not force the ball into the net.

“We need to be better, [the goals against] Dundee Untied were set plays,” Olid added. “We play nice football but when we arrive around the box our decision-making is not the best. We have to improve that final pass, that final finish and be better.

“[The team] were good, they performed really well, it’s just that the ball wouldn’t go in. It is not the stadium, it is that last moment, they need to be more focused with their last action in the box.”

Despite the defeat, Olid believes there are many positives to take away from the game as they look to end on a high before the international break. An away trip to Celtic on Wednesday night is closely followed by a Partick Thistle at the Oriam with points from both games the aim. While the result on the weekend is not ideal, the manager continues to believe in her project as she insists that goals just need to come from her side.

“We have positives,” she explained. We played as we wanted to play, we were ourselves and we believe in this style of play. This is a long way, this is a long project where we want to be and we are not going to change because we lost today. We will keep working the way we want to play, we just need to score our opportunities.”