Lawson and Leah Are Tynecastle Heartstoppers

In an end-to-end Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle, it would be Hibernian that would emerge victorious, thanks in no-small part to their central defensive duo.

On a sticky mid-September afternoon Hibernian would edge the first Edinburgh derby of the SWPL season, a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Charlotte Parker-Smith deflection on an Abbie Ferguson shot across goal. An entertaining contest that swung from end to end was, at times, contested amongst Amazonian weather conditions. Bouncing rain and suffocating humidity made for an energy sapping encounter and in game packed with keenly fought individual battles it would be the performance of Hibernian’s centre back duo Poppy Lawson and Leah Eddie that would really catch the eye.

Hibernian defeated Hearts 1-0 at Tynecastle on Sunday

The young duo’s combined stature seemed to only grow as maroon attacks would be kept at arm’s length in a contest of fine margins until the very last. In the 92nd minute, as Hearts tried to pour forward, last season’s top goalscorer Georgia Timms would unleash a shot from the edge of the area. It had barely crossed the 18 yard line before a green shirted Eddie had thrown herself towards a goal bound grenade. Captain for the day it was a full stop on what had been a totemic performance alongside 20-year-old central defensive partner Poppy Lawson, as their attacking opposition would be unable to register a single shot on target in a second period they spent chasing an equaliser following Parker-Smith’s misfortune seconds before half-time had given Hibernian the lead.