Women’s football in Scotland returned from it’s winter break with the Scottish Gas Women’s Scottish Cup Third Round on Sunday.

Before the action kicked-off, Airdrie Ladies were forced to withdraw from their scheduled match against Livingston, meaning that the West Lothian side automatically advanced to the Fourth Round.

Elsewhere, Queen's Park's fixture against Bonnyrigg Rose was postponed due to a frozen pitch. The match will now be played on Wednesday, 17 January, with a kick-off time and venue to be confirmed. 

This left 14 ties to be played across the country on the first weekend of the New Year, with SWPL and SWPL 2 sides joining the winners from November’s Second Round.

The day started with three early kick-offs from midday, as Partick Thistle, Aberdeen and East Fife booked their places in Monday evening’s Fourth Round draw courtesy of wins over Motherwell, Renfrew Ladies and Boroughmuir Thistle, respectively.

Last year’s runners-up, Rangers, faced the longest journey of all teams involved on Sunday, as they travelled North to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle, where they were met by a record 1,031 attendance at the Caledonian Stadium.

The match itself ended with the away side winning 12-0 to cruise into the Fourth Round, Rio Hardy taking centre stage with a hat-trick.

While the Glasgow side had the biggest distance to travel, Dyce Women faced the largest gap in league standings between teams competing as a result of their home tie against Dundee United, who sit four divisions above the SWFL North side. That gap proved pivotal in the end, as the away side ran out 5-0 winners.

Glenrothes Strollers were the only other side alongside Dyce to have made it from the Preliminary Round to this stage, but their Cup run came to an end after a 3-1 defeat to the SWPL 2’s Gartcairn.

Elsewhere, Montrose convincingly beat Stenhousemuir 7-0, while lasts season’s Cup winners, Celtic, began their quest to retain the trophy with a 7-0 win of their own over Ayr United.

An Edinburgh derby between Heart of Midlothian and Edinburgh Caledonia went the way of Eva Olid’s Hearts side, four goals from Kathleen McGovern helping secure a 9-0 win.

That match was one of four 3pm kick-offs, which also saw Spartans, Stirling University and Hamilton Academical progress at the expense of Glasgow Women, Westdyke and Kilmarnock.

The day’s action was rounded off with two double-digit wins, as reigning SWPL champions Glasgow City beat Rossvale 10-0, and Hibernian racked-up ten unanswered goals against St Johnstone, with Micky McAlonie scoring a remarkable four goals.

Scottish Gas Women's Scottish Cup Third Round Results

Ayr United 0-7 Celtic
Boroughmuir Thistle FC 1-3 Aberdeen
Dyce Women 0-5 Dundee United
East Fife WFC 5-0 Renfrew Ladies
Glasgow Women FC 1-6 Spartans
Glenrothes Strollers 1-3 Gartcairn
Heart of Midlothian 9-0 Edinburgh Caledonia
Hibernian 10-0 St Johnstone
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0-12 Rangers
Kilmarnock 2-3 Hamilton Academical (AET)
Partick Thistle 4-2 Motherwell
Queen's Park P-P Bonnyrigg Rose
Rossvale 0-10 Glasgow City
Stenhousemuir 0-7 Montrose
Westdyke 1-2 Stirling University

Scottish Gas Women's Scottish Cup Fourth Round Draw

The draw for the Fourth Round of the Scottish Gas Women's Scottish Cup will be made on Monday, with legendary Scottish football figure Rose Reilly joining host Amy Irons to conduct the draw. 

It will be broadcast on the Scottish Cup's YouTube Channel at 5:30pm.