Doctor stays positive after latest defeat
Gary Doctor says his Hamilton Accies Women’s side will take time to reflect on the small margins that have left his side in the relegation play-off spot heading into the business end of the SWPL1 season.
Accies have won just one of their last 11 league games and are currently on a run of three straight defeats, following a 6-0 loss to leaders Glasgow City and back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Spartans and Partick Thistle in the past fortnight.
A two week break for Scottish Cup action and Scotland internationals have left Accies to stew over their position in the table, sitting 11th on 13 points and just a point behind the safety of 10th spot.
With bottom of the table Glasgow Girls yet to pick up a point this season, Accies are fighting to avoid a relegation play-off and their fixtures before the split next month look daunting as they face Motherwell on February 26, Celtic on March 1, Hibs on March 5 and Rangers on March 12.
So Doctor admits the focus now is on getting to the split in a decent position to tackle the teams around them when the bottom six sides all face off.
He said:“we are in a position in the play-off spot now where we obviously don’t want to be.
“With tough games coming up against the top teams, it is going to be difficult so we need to regroup and be ready for the post-split fixtures in a month or so.
“When that happens, every game will really matter and they will be in the winnable category for everyone. That’s something we have to be a bit realistic about and understand where we are.
“If you look at the budgets of all the teams in the league, we are in the right place in terms of that.
“It is not everything but when you are dealing in fine margins, that can be the difference. That little bit of depth, little bit of quality and being able to entice players who make the difference.
“It is just something we need to get on with. We’ve got time to reflect on the recent games and hopefully we get back on track soon.”
Reflecting on their defeat to Partick last time out on February 8, Doctor added: “I think we played better than we did against Spartans. We started the game very well, caused them a lot of problems but we never took enough risks in the final third.
“That let them into the game and they score with the only clear-cut chance of the match.
“We were well in the game but in the last couple of games we haven’t created enough, which is a bit unlike us. In the game with Dundee United last month, where we drew 2-2, we created a lot.
“We are disappointed but the players are giving us everything. It’s just small margins.”