Spartans welcomed Hamilton Accies to the Spartans Academy on Sunday for their 2^nd home game of the season and after a sluggish 1^st half a solid 2^nd half performance saw them maintain their 100% start to the league campaign.

The game started at a slow pace with both sides passing the ball about without any real cutting edge. The first chance of the game came after 11 mins, Lauder found space in the box but her left foot shot was well smothered by Alexander in the Accies goal. Barry then had a long range shot which flashed well wide. The game certainly needed a goal to spark it into life and it duly arrived after 29 mins. A free kick into the box by Kerr was dropped by Alexander and Scott followed up to score from 6 yards after her initial shot was blocked. This seemed to kick start the game for Spartans and they doubled their lead after 36 mins, a low cross from Lauder was knocked home by Kerr from 10 yards. The game then got heated and 2 minutes after the goal Hamilton were reduced to 10 men. Lauder fouled Murray out on the right wing, referee Peace played advantage although I think she may have been better stopping play and booking Lauder, no advantage accrued and as the ball broke back to Lauder, Murray caught her with a reckless studs up challenge. Referee Peace was left with no choice but to send off

Murray for the challenge, which to be fair to the youngster was borne more out of frustration at not getting the initial foul than malice. Lauder was booked for the initial foul. The sending off seemed to spur Hamilton on and they got a lifeline back into the game as a mix up between Hutcheson and McLean enabled them to pull a goal back.

Spartans hadn’t really played well in the 1^st half but they certainly improved after the break. A run unchallenged down the left enabled Lauder to score left footed after 59 mins. 10 mins later Barry scored with a great right footer from the edge of the box after a great flick on by Scott. The striker scored her second off the match two minutes later, tapping home after a defensive mix up. The best goal of the game arrived after 75 mins a great through ball by Hamill was expertly finished left footed by Barry, for her hatrick, from the edge of the box. The scoring was complete after 85 mins Rooney firing home right footed from the edge of the box. There was still time for Hamill to hit the post and Alexander had to look smart to deny Crosbie.

All in all a satisfactory win for Spartans who know they will have to play better as the season progresses.

Hamilton showed enough to show that they will be a hard team to beat, they passed the ball well and competed for the full 90 minutes and the final scoreline was probably a bit harsh on them.