Hamilton Accies Women undone by stunning Spartans free-kick, as relegation play-off fears deepen

Gary Doctor admits his Hamilton Accies Women side were undone by one of the best free kicks he’s ever seen in the SWPL after a costly defeat to Spartans left them facing a huge clash with relegation play-off rivals Dundee United this weekend.

Battling Accies went down 4-2 away to the Edinburgh side on Saturday to leave them five points adrift of United with six games to go in the battle to avoid a shootout for survival.

Doctor’s side twice came from a goal behind to level through Eilidh Martin and Rachel Ross, taking them into the break all square at 2-2.

But the turning point came just moments into the second half when Spartans’ Alana Marshall netted a stunning free-kick to take the wind out of Hamilton’s sails, before a Megan Quinn own goal on the hour mark sealed their fate.

Doctor said: “I thought our overall attacking play and the number of chances we created was very good.

“We started the game really well and caused Spartans a lot of problems with a lot of early attempts – but then we get caught by that sucker punch when they take the lead after us starting so well.

“But the players were great. We got the equaliser and fought back again before half-time to get another equaliser, so we were feeling fairly good about ourselves at the break.

“However, the third goal they scored one minute into the second half is as good a free-kick as I’ve seen in the league for a long time. You just have to hold your hands up to that.

“We kept going and created chances to get back into it but we didn’t take them and, ultimately, we lose the game.

“But there’s a lot of positives we can take into the game with Dundee United.”

Accies host United and then face a Lanarkshire derby at Motherwell on Wednesday night, so they must pick up