Hamilton Accies’ Women’s and Girls’ FC round-up.

Mar 11 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON travelled north for this match against Inverness full of confidence, but returned empty-handed.

This was a dismal display against a so-called “inferior” Inverness side.

Accies dominated possession in the first half but missed too many chances.

Manager Kevin Murphy was absent as he was on an SFA coaching course, and Alan Urquhart stepped in.

He said: “Overall, I am extremely disappointed with, first and foremost the result, but also by the performance.

“We were not at the races and didn’t merit a victory. We did put a lot of work in through the week in training in preparation for this vital game and we simply did not perform.”

Hamilton’s first chance came when some great interplay between Templeton and Mason ended in McManus sending a shot narrowly wide.

Minutes later a great cross from Hogg saw Lafferty’s powerful header well saved.

On 20 minutes, a curling shot from Templeton was saved by the Inverness keeper, shortly before the same player fired over from a good position.

Having dominated Accies were inevitably caught cold in 42 minutes when Inverness took the lead with a fierce shot that left goalkeeper Fleming stranded.

Accies pushed for an equaliser but were twice caught flat-footed either side of the 80-minute mark, which all but ended the game as a contest.

Hamilton continued to battle and grabbed a consolation in the 89th minute through Nicky Grant.

Coach Urquhart continued: “I am disappointed for the players as this was a real opportunity to get to a cup final and we let ourselves down badly on the day.

“I take responsibility for the defeat and harsh lessons were learnt to try and ensure that something like this does not happen again.”

Accies’ next match is away to Rangers in the first match of the new league season on Sunday, March 14.

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Reserves kicked off their league campaign with 6-2 win at Milton Rovers.

Accies should have been a couple of goals up within the first 10 minutes but shots from Laura Lindsay and Louise McIntyre were well saved by Milton keeper Caylea Fraser.

Against the run of play, Milton went 1-0 up from a corner.

Accies quickly levelled when good play on the wing left Michaela Burns one-on-one with Fraser and she calmly slotted home.

McIntyre made it 2-1 from a similar situation, but Milton equalised.

Accies were finding it difficult to break down a packed Milton defence and found Fraser in fantastic form, but regained their lead just ahead of the interval with McIntyre’s second of the game.

Accies made a couple of changes at the interval with Pamela Liddell and Hayley McEwan coming on, and the visitors stretched their lead to 4-2 when Tiff McLoy’s free-kick was headed in by Burns.

Liddell, on her debut, made it 5-2 with an unstoppable shot flying past helpless Fraser.

Liddell nearly scored again but when her shot was parried by Fraser, McEwan was on hand to knock the rebound into the empty net.

lHAMILTON’S Under-13s kicked off their new season with the first game under a new format with a 6-3 win over East Kilbride.