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Hamilton Accies Women one win from title after hitting St Johnstone for six

Hamilton Accies Women one win from title after hitting St Johnstone for six

Daily Record09-05-2025

Robert Watson's side could wrap up the SWPL2 crown on Sunday
Hamilton Accies Women are one win away from clinching the SWPL2 title, but boss Robert Watson warned them not to underestimate Gartcairn on Sunday.
Accies bounced back from a 2-1 defeat at second-placed Kilmarnock on April 20 with an emphatic 6-0 win over St Johnstone, after Boroughmuir Thistle had held their Ayrshire rivals to a 2-2 draw.

That stretched Accies' lead at the top to four points with two games left, and Watson wants the silverware wrapped up as quickly as possible, while being wary of their Airdrie opponents.

Watson said: 'We're now in a position where we need one more win from the two games to secure it, but it's important that we don't underestimate Gartcairn or Rossvale, because they're going to want to pick up points for their own reasons.
'We've got to use the momentum we've got now to try and bring it home as quickly as we can.
'On Sunday, if we win, we'll pick up the title. If Kilmarnock drop points we can do it as well, but I'm not really focusing on what happens over there – we'd rather win it ourselves, anyway.
'Gartcairn is a very difficult venue to go to and, from their point of view, I'm sure they won't want a team winning the league at their ground.
'I understand that motivation, so we're not going to get anything easy. If we do win the league on Sunday, it's because we've earned it, and we've prepared correctly.'

A Josi Giard double and goals from Melissa Reid, Chloe Muir, Sophie Townsley and Eryn Brown got Accies back on track on Sunday.
Watson said: 'It was really pleasing, especially under a little bit of pressure.
'We knew Kilmarnock's result, going into the game, and it was in our favour, but we still needed to deliver a win at the other side of it, and we managed it.

'I felt we were maybe a wee bit nervy for the first 20 minutes, but once we got the first goal we settled down, and thoroughly deserved the win, especially in the second half.
'We were back to what we're good at, and the expectation of what we've set each other as a squad and a group of coaches, and I'm really pleased for the players to bounce back so well.
'The players have been speaking. We've been able to sort of mull on it over two weeks, having that weekend off, with the cup semi-finals.

'There's a real determination between them to make sure that we got back on track and got the win.'
A few milestones were set on Sunday, as Giard bagged her 25th goal of the season, Chloe Muir scored her 30th Accies goal, and Sophie Townsley her 20th of this campaign.
Watson said: 'Chloe has been chasing her 30th goal for the club for a few weeks now, and it was a fairly straight-forward tap-in for her, so she was delighted.
'She re-signed for us in January and has now got, in 11 appearances, 10 goal involvements, which is brilliant.
'Josi is the top scorer in the league and Sophie is second-top as well, so having that sort of threat in attack is really important.'

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