Hand it to Fleming
Accies keeper bows out
Hamilton Accies Women coach Gary Doctor paid tribute to veteran goalkeeper Elaine Fleming as she hung up her gloves following Sunday’s season closer against Rangers.
Mhairi Lyle’s late strike gave Accies the points and provided a perfect finale for Fleming.
Doctor said: “Elaine made a handling error for the Rangers goal, but then recovered with a couple of big saves.
“I hope she can stay involved with us in some way, she has been a great, loyal servant to the club.
“She might want to take a break from it, but we’ll be here for her.”
Doctor added: “It was a great game, both teams went for it and there was no point in holding back.
“We were maybe more attack-minded, which is something we can perhaps look at for next season, but it’s great to come back from behind, which we’ve not done for a long time.”
Rangers started the better of the sides and went ahead in 19 minutes when Fleming misjudged Claire Gemmell’s free-kick as it rolled into the net.
Lori Gardner passed up a chance before Jordan Mclintock was denied by the crossbar.
Hamilton hung in as Rangers attacked, and were rewarded in 69 minutes when Gill Inglis linked up with Teigan Mccann to find Gardner at the near post to sweep home the equaliser.
Fleming made a great instinctive save to deny Haley Sinclair from pointblank range, and that gave Accies a massive boost.
Three minutes from time Lyle took advantage of a missed clearance by fullvictoria Elliot to round the keeper and tap into the net.
Doctor added: “We’re delighted to have maintained our league status.”