Hamilton Accies Women boss 'proud' despite derby cup defeat

Robert Watson spoke of his pride after Hamilton Accies Women pushed SWPL1 side Motherwell close in the Sky Sports Cup second round on Sunday.

Accies led 1-0 at K-Park thanks to a strike by Megan Quinn on the stroke of half-time, and had a Josie Giard ‘goal’ chalked off for what Watson says is a dubious offside.

But on-loan Rangers striker Laura Berry equalised for Motherwell deep into second-half stoppage time and, after the sides couldn’t be separated in extra-time, won the shoot-out 4-3.

Watson said: “It was frustrating, but we also need to acknowledge how well we played.

“Scoring right before half-time was great, but we also had a goal from Josie Giard chalked off, which we’ve watched back...

“At the time, the assistant was telling me it was two yards offside, but had there been VAR, the lines would have been out, it was so close.

“We could have been 2-0 up, but they’ve got a quality striker on loan from Rangers, and the one time she’s managed to get free she’s scored, and you’ve got to say it’s a quality finish.

“We could have collapsed, allowed that to affect us and dropped off in extra-time, but we fought tooth and nail to make sure we didn’t lose it.

“It just hasn’t fallen for us in the shoot-out, but I’m very proud and pleased with their performance over 120 minutes.

“Even over the period of the 90 minutes, I don’t think anybody could have begrudged us winning the match.

“We maybe just didn’t have that little bit of luck to see it out 1-0, but we can only say we’re still unbeaten over 90 minutes in the season.”

Accies take that into Sunday’s SWPL2 clash against Rossvale at Kirkintilloch Sports Complex, and Watson won’t be taking their opponents lightly.

He said: “The pressure we put on ourselves is for us to