Hamilton Accies 1 Forfar 3

Manager Kevin Murphy kept the players in the dressing room for a long time after this match, “This was a totally unacceptable performance, the girls were taught a harsh lesson today, at this level failure to do the basics can cost you games. Individual errors led us to concede three easily avoidable goals”. This was disappointing match for Hamilton Accies Women’s Football Club, after a good start to the season they let themselves down by failing to beat a stuffy Forfar team.

The match started with Accies in control and dominating the midfield two early chances were created and on both occasions the shots failed to test the Forfar keeper. These early misses seemed to give the Forfar girls some hope and they began to come more and more into the game. The first goal arrived on 25 minutes when a mistake in the Accies defence allowed the Forfar striker Caren Webster to run free into the box and score from a tight angle.

Accies tried to up the pace and forced a couple of quick corners only to see the resultant headers float harmlessly over the bar, the first half ended with Accies still trailing by that solitary goal. The second half was hardly underway when a calamitous piece of defending allowed Forfar to double their lead, a mistake on the edge of the box resulted in the ball being passed to the Forfar number 12 Caroline Heron who took great delight in rolling the ball into the empty net.

The Accies heads dropped after this and on 55 minutes Forfar took further advantage when poor defending from a corner allowed Caroline Heron to score her second and Forfar’s third with a thumping header which went in of the back post. The introduction of Accies sub Kim Keys gave the team some impetus and on 65 minutes a good through ball from Sam McManus released Ashley McDonald who finished in some style.

Although Accies continued to put pressure on the away defence they could not make any further breakthroughs and time eventually ran out. Manager Kevin Murphy summed the match up “The girls have been told in no uncertain terms that they need to improve their performances in the next game against Aberdeen. Failure to do so will give myself and Alan (Urquhart) no option but to review things from the bottom up”.

Accies next match is away to Aberdeen on Sunday 6^th of September.

Hamilton Accies Team:

Hamilton: Fleming, McGovern, Lafferty, Hogg, King, Inglis, Fleming, Reilly, McDonald, Fairlie and McManus.

Subs: McCann, Keys, Makarainen, Thomson and Templeton.

Farmington Ladies secured their third league victory on the bounce with a hard fought victory over Hamilton Academcials on Sunday.

A threadbare Forfar went into the match missing six first team players, including goalkeeper Fiona McNicoll. However former players Avril Gourlay and Emily Phillips took to the field as trialists, with the latter taking McNicoll’s place in the Farmington goal.

Phillips was the first goalkeeper to be called into action; fielding a well struck Hamilton free kick. Fairlie was unlucky for the home side in the 13th minute, when she cut inside the Forfar defence, but fired her shot into the side netting. A Nicola Davidson corner three minutes later caused something of a stramash in the Hamilton box, with the home defenders somehow combining to keep the ball out of their net. Ashley McDonald was probing the Forfar backline at every opportunity, weaving past Thomson and Beveridge on this occasion before seeing her shot well saved by Phillips at her near post. Farmington took the lead in the 23rd minute when good work from Beveridge on the right flank fed in Caren Webster who expertly drilled the ball past Accies keeper Fleming. The visitors almost extended their lead ten minutes later when Webster worked the ball from right to left, allowing Caroline Heron to fire an effort on the home goal which was initialled parried by Fleming and subsequently cleared by the Accies backline. The home side came close to equalling the scorline on the stroke of half time; first Fairlie outpaced the Farmington backline and had her shot pushed round the post by Phillips, with Katie Reily heading narrowly past from the subsequent corner. There was a near re-run of the previous attack from Accies deep in injury time, McDonald this time seeing her shot pushed for a corner, and McManus heading off target.

Forfar were quickest off the mark in the 2nd half, extended their lead in the 47th minute. The tireless efforts of Caroline Heron saw Accies keeper Fleming dispossessed, with Heron deftly guiding the ball into the back of the net from distance. McDonald blazed an effort over the bar before Forfar Gourlay forced Fleming to tip a lofted shot over the bar in the 58th minute. From the resultant corner Heron rose above the Hamilton backline to head home. At the other end Phillips had to look lively to tip a Hamilton effort over the bar with Fleming denying Caren Webster with a tip round the post soon after. Hamilton pulled one back in the 69th minute when McManus carved the Forfar backline open with an exquisite pass allowing McDonald to fire past Phillips. Fairlie fired into the side netting and saw an effort cleared off the line by Davidson as Hamilton looked to further reduce the deficit; however the Farmington defensive line stood firm. Kate Reilly would have the last real chance for Accies, firing over the bar from distance at the end of an excellent flowing move.

Farmington Head Coach Mark Nisbet gave 14 year old Cheryl Kilcoyne her senior Ladies debut in the closing stages, replacing Webster as Farmington held secure until the final whistle.