Special night for Hibs stars in front of record-breaking crowd

Hibs players enjoyed special night at Easter Road on Wednesday in front of a record-breaking attendance for the women’s club game in Scotland.

Goals from Alexa Coyle, Rachael Boyle, and Eilidh Adams gave the Hibees a 3-0 derby victory over their Edinburgh rivals Hearts, with 5512 people watching on from the stands.

And for lifelong Hibs fan Adams it was an occasion to remember.

“I’m a massive Hibs fan, I’ve been coming here since I was young,” she told STV News.

“I’m a season ticket holder and it just makes it even more special to be at Easter Road, scoring against Hearts is always a great feeling but in front of the massive crowd here tonight it was just, I was almost in tears, it was just incredible and I absolutely loved it and I just want to keep reliving it.”

That sentiment was shared by Rachael Boyle, who scored her first goal at Easter Road.

“I couldn’t let my husband (Hibs striker Martin Boyle) do it all, I had to get in on the act.”

Boyle said she hopes Wednesday night’s game inspires the next generation of girls to get involved in the game.

She said: “You see the smiles on their faces at the end, they’re all shouting our names and to be honest I don’t know if half of them would even know our names before they came here tonight, so hopefully that’s instilled some belief into those girls going forward that they can then be here someday.

“This stadium means a lot to me and my family – my husband obviously plays here and to get my daughter along to watch it tonight as well, she doesn’t come to night games often so to look up and see her after I had scored, it was really special.

The Easter Road side made over 6000 tickets available for free and saw them snapped up in just days, meaning the SWPL1 match could surpassed the previous record women’s crowd of 3123, set in the 2019 Scottish Cup final.