Hamilton Accies Ladies defeat Inverness 2-1

Nov 19 2009

HAMILTON Accies Ladies defeated newly-promoted Inverness 2-1 in the last match of this shortened season.

Accies struggled in the early stages and could have been a goal down inside two minutes were it not for a great tackle by Laura Murray on the visitors’ centre forward.

But Accies got into their stride after five minutes when, from a Susan Fairlie corner, striker Sam McManus headed the home side into a 1-0 lead.

Inverness dominated until the break but were let down by poor finishing.

Inverness had most of the possession in the second half and in the 62nd minute had the ball in the net only to see the referee’s assistant flag for offside.

However, 13 minutes later, Accies conceded a free kick on the edge of the box and Inverness midfielder Laura Cadden curled her shot over the wall and in off the underside of the bar.

Accies were stung by the goal and began to carve out chances.

A Laura Murray strike from 25 yards crashed off the underside of the bar with the keeper beaten.

A draw looked to be the likely result until the 85th minute when Murray found Susan Fairlie in space.

From her cross, the ball broke off an Inverness defender and rolled into the path of sub Sarah Crilly, who side-footed home to earn Accies the victory.

Accies manager Kevin Murphy praised his side and singled out Sarah Crilly, who bagged the winner having come on as a substitute after lengthy absence through injury.

“Susan Fairlie had a tremendous game in attack and had a hand in both goals,” he added.

“We have collected more points in this short season compared to the whole of last season, so that shows the massive steps we have taken at this club.”

Accies: Fleming, Murray, Lafferty, Hogg, Thomson, Inglis, Grant, Flemming, Templeton, Fairlie and McManus. Subs: McGovern, Reilly, Keys, Donnachie, Crilly and Graham.

UNDER-17 SFA Scottish Women’s Football League Cup final: Hamilton Accies 5 v Kilmarnock 0.

The 2007 winners retained their trophy after losing out last year on penalty kicks to Celtic.

Accies led 2-0 at the interval following goals from MacLachlan and Douglas.

Killie pressed after the break but the Accies defence and goalkeeper McCarney held firm.

As Killie tired, Accies went on to score a further three goals: Douglas added a second; Goodwin got on the scoresheet and there was a spectacular 30-yard strike from MacLeery. Player of the match was Burns.

UNDER-13 League Cup final: Hamilton Accies (White) 11, East Kilbride Blue 3.

Having beaten both Kilmarnock and Kilwinning Buffs away from home, Accies took on East Kilbride at the Toryglen Sports Complex.

Hamilton opened the scoring when Karen Baillie found the net from a quickly-taken throw in.

Hannah O’Keane then scored twice as Hamilton took control.

Strikes from Tammi Jeffrey and Jodie Brannan gave Hamilton a deserved 5-0 half-time lead.

Hannah Preston got on to the scoresheet after the break, quickly followed by Karen Baillie, who scored her second goal with a fine header from a corner kick.

Karen then secured her hat-trick with another great goal to take the score to 8-0.

East Kilbride came back into it and scored three quick goals.

However, Jodie Brannan scored her second goal of the game after good build up play and Hannah Preston then cut in from the left to bag her brace.

Hannah O’Keane scored another goal to secure her hat-trick as Hamilton ran out winners 11-3.

THE under 11s’ last away game of the season saw the girls travel to Prestwick, where they held on to record a 2-1 away win.

They started well and were one up through Abbie Millar’s early strike, but it was 35 minutes later before Suzanne Smith got what proved to be the winner with a low left-foot drive into the corner of the net.

Prestwick pulled one back, which led to a nervous ending to the match. The Accies’ back line were the stars, with good performances from Emily Shearer, Cathleen Toolan and keeper Kaitlin McSherry.

Next week’s game is a mini festival at Hamilton Palace Sports Grounds, 11am kick-off.

Team: McSherry, Shearer, McLaren, Tolan, Crossan, McLean, Smith, Millar, Quinn, Conner.

Player of the match was goalkeeper Kaitlin McSherry.

HAMILTON Accies under 11s team two travelled to Prestwick and recorded an 8-1 win.

Hamilton dominated the game and were 4-0 up at half-time with a hat-trick from Devine and one from Campbell.

After the break, Dixon came on for Murray and McCafferty for Devine. However Prestwick started quickly and grabbed an early goal.

Nugent restored Accies’ four-goal cushion. McCafferty scored number six before making way for Devine, who launched a spectacular from 20 yards into the top corner.

With a minute to go Hamilton scored again with a great team effort that ended with Devine coolly striking the ball through the keeper’s legs.

Final score: Prestwick 1, Hamilton 8.

It was decided that the whole team should share the ‘player of the match’ accolade because of their top-notch team display.

Team: Olivia Pink, Beth Murray, Kirsty Fraser, Iona Campbell, Lucy Nugent, Rachel Cowden, Danya Devine, Mairead Dixon and Morgan McCafferty.