Hamilton moved up to fifth in the table with a convincing win over lowly Raith at Wishaw Sports Centre on Sunday. Before the game the pressure was on Raith Rovers to chase the win to try and get themselves off the bottom of the table. They started the game nervously allowing Hamilton bags of space on each side, giving front pairing Susan Fairlie and Saran Crilly the perfect opportunity to use their pace and get behind the rather shaky looking Raith defence. Fairlie gave the Raith defence a torrid afternoon right from the off when she was clean through on goal, shooting from close range only to see her effort saved easily by Ashley Watson in the Raith goal. Fairlie once again found herself with a clean through after five minutes but was ruled offside.

The breakthrough came five minutes later when a pass from midfield released Fairlie who bulleted a shot high into the top corner leaving Watson with no chance. Hamilton dominated the majority of the first half, knocking the ball about with ease in the middle of the park and the service to Fairlie and Crilly up front was excellent with both testing the keeper on several occasions. However much to the surprise of everyone watching, Raith equalized ten minutes from half time when Kirsty Thomson pounced on a loose ball just outside the box and the ball took a nasty deflection, taking it out of the reach of Fleming and into the bottom corner.

The equalizer didn’t seem to unsettle Hamilton though as they kept battling in midfield, winning everything and constantly causing problems for the Raith engine room. Accies regained the lead early in the second half when Lynsey Hogg fired a low free kick towards goal and substitute Marie Gemmell latched onto the rebound to knock the ball in from close range. Susie Fairlie scored her second of the afternoon after the hour mark when a corner from the right somehow struck the crossbar and the little striker was there to head home.

Raith gave themselves a lifeline with 15 minutes to go when striker Helen Templeton ran onto a lovely through ball from midfield and rounded the keeper to make it 3-2. However Accies quickly put the result beyond any doubt three minutes later when Fairlie played a neat ball through to her strike partner Susan Crilly who beat the offside trap to fire a fierce shot in the bottom corner from 12 yards.

Hamilton:
Elaine Fleming, Lynsey Hogg, Emma Lafferty, Mia Makarainen, Jennifer Thomson, Gemma Thomson, Colette Fleming, Nicola Doherty, Gillian Inglis, Susan Fairlie, Sarah Crilly, Substitutes: Marie Gemmell, Jacqueline McCann, Karen Keys (T), Jennifer King, Fiona Duff, Cheryl McCulloch

Raith Rovers:
Ashley Watson, Erin Thatcher, Nicola Glover, Elizabeth Anderson, Claire Halliday, Katie Bennett, Kirsty Scott, Kirsty Thomson, Liza McKenzie, Helen Templeton, Jenny Davies, Substitutes: Mellisa McAllister