Coach lauds team spirit despite defeat
Gary Doctor says his regular first-team stars will need to work hard to get back into his plans, despite a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Hibs on Sunday.
Doctor’s threadbare side were always going to be up against it at Ainslie Park in Edinburgh, but the gaffer was impressed with the spirit shown by his side.
Missing eight regular firstteam picks for the game, Doctor brought in youth players Emily Shearer, Megan Quigley, Teagan Mccann and Lauren Simpson, who impressed on their debuts.
He said: “You know what? There are some first team players who have a lot to do to get back into the team, because the players who came in were excellent and never let us down.
“My team was all a bit thrown together, but for us to be that well organised just shows the potential that we have, and how hard they wanted to try for the team.”
Accies might have feared the worst early on when Amy Gallacher tapped home the opener in eight minutes, but Doctor’s side dug in and denied space for the remainder of the opening half, without offering anything at the other end.
Despite enjoying the bulk of possession, it took until the second half for Hibs to break the Accies’ resolve, with Katie Turner bundling home at the near post to make it 2-0 four minutes after the break.
Shannon Leishman made it 3-0 on the hour-mark, getting in at the back post to convert a Chelsea Cornet cross, before Turner added her second of the game in 78 minutes, getting on the end of a skidding cross from Emma Brownlie.
Accies must now put a challenging run of games behind them, as next up is the visit of bottom-placed Aberdeen at the Superseal Stadium on Sunday.
With Accies just a point ahead of the Dons, it will go a long way towards deciding Doctor’s side’s Scottish Women’s Premier League fate.
He said: “We now have the remaining six fixtures against teams we would fancy getting something against. As much as Aberdeen is a big game, it’s not the only one.
“If we show the kind of endeavour and potential as we did on Sunday I think we can realistically get some points on the board.”