Hamilton Accies Women coach admits his side has a 'mountain to climb' in survival fight

Hamilton Women’s head coach Gary Doctor admits his side are up against it in their bid to survive in their first SWPL 1 season.

Accies lost 1-0 to relegation rivals Partick Thistle at New Douglas Park on Sunday to leave them seven points adrift at the bottom of the league.

They faced league leaders Rangers on Wednesday in a daunting clash and it doesn’t get much easier away to Hibs this Sunday.

Doctor’s side have five points from 15 matches this term and now ninth-placed Partick Thistle sit seven points above Hamilton, ahead of their double-header this week.

It will be a tough battle to remain in the division amid a tough run of games, but Doctor says his team have the ability to do so.

He said: “There are a lot of games left but on the balance of them, we have just gone through a phase of fixtures which would have been a good opportunity for us to get points.

“Now things are a bit more challenging on paper. We haven’t done enough in those games to win the points we need. It’s really hard to be overly critical of the players as we know how hard they are playing.

“We can't switch on and off. We haven’t delivered when it has mattered and we have a mountain to climb.”

Doctor added: “There’s no getting away from the fact that not only is everybody disappointed with the result, we are disappointed with our performance in the game.

"We have been talking about the matches that we have lost, but ones where we have showed signs of quality.

"Unfortunately, on Sunday, too many of our players had an off day and didn't handle the performance level.

"I think the other team edged it. It has just been the way for us over the course of this season, and it leaves us in a difficult position."

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