Let Jags off hook

even second half. In the 70th minute, they were fortunate that Hazard was able to produce incredible reflexes to push a zinger from Clare on to the bar before Arnaud Djoum rattled that same frame with his follow-up, but they made these breaks count two minutes later with a dramatic, couldn’t-ever-see-it-coming equaliser.

Craig Slater produced a run down the left channel that seemed fuelled by jet propulsion before he delivered an exquisite cross with the outside of of his right foot that allowed Christie Elliott to steam in a volley over the line from point-blank range. 0 Hearts fans unfurl a banner criticising the scheduling of the Scottish Cup quarter-final on a weekday.

2 Christie Elliott arrives at the far post to equalise for Partick last night.

Shelley Kerr praised a tremendous performance in Parchal as her players dismantled an Iceland side rankedonlytwoplacesbelow them in the Fifa rankings. The Algarve Cup win put an end to a run of four defeats.

“The pleasing thing for me was I put the players under pressure before the game,” Kerr said. “I haven’t done that before.

“I told them they will need to win a game at the World Cup if we want to get out of the group. They had to treat it as a World Cup game which we need to win. We took calculated risks at the right time. I thought the front four were excellent. The third goal was a joy to watch as was some of our football. The players passed the test with flying colours.”

Manchester United winger Lizzie Arnot opened her Scotland account with the first and fourth goals, with Erin Cuthbert and Kim Little chipping in for the other two.

Kerr made four changes to the side which had lost to Canada three days earlier – goalkeeper Shannon Lynn, defender Kirsty Smith, midfielder Leanne Crichton and winger Arnot all coming in.

Bafflingly, Iceland boss Jon Thor Hauksson started Valur striker Elin Jensen on the bench – she scored both goals when Iceland beat the Scots 2-1 in a La Manga friendly six weeks earlier.