Sunday 20th November, 2022 at 7:02pm
With three wins and a draw in the last four league outings Thistle went into this match as arguably the division’s form team. The emphatic 5-1 win that followed not only served to underline the good form that Thistle are currently in but also consolidated a top six position.
The game kicked off to the dramatic backdrop or a rainbow soaring above the traditional away end of New Douglas Park and events on the pitch were no less dramatic inside the game’s opening 10 minutes.
A sharp turn from Hamilton’s Giard that wrong footed Demi Falconer inside the opening 60 seconds signalled the home side’s early attacking intentions with a raised flag for offside halting any early threat to the Thistle goal. Those attacking intentions were emphasised a few minutes later when Giard saw a shot blocked.
There were just five minutes on the clock, however, when the game took a dramatic shift in Thistle’s direction. Abbie Ferguson lifted a shot high towards the Hamilton goal. Thoughts as to whether the ball was going to drop into the net were rendered mute when Nicolson in the Hamilton goal instinctively threw her hands up to save but did so while a yard or so outside her penalty box. The red card that followed, leaving Thistle with a numerical advantage for upwards of 85 minutes, was inevitable.
Linzi Taylor saw her effort from the free kick that followed deflected wide of goal as Thistle looked to take immediate advantage of their newfound numerical supremacy.
A minute later Rebecca McGowan saw a shot well saved by the Accies substitute keeper Rhind and three minutes later Rachel Donaldson spurned a good opportunity following some excellent build up play from Thistle who were already making good use of the full width of the pitch not allowing their opponents to settle into any kind of shape.
Rhind made another excellent stop in the 19th minute to deny Taylor, but the opening Thistle goal was only delayed for a further three minutes.
Cara Henderson and Freya MacDonald exchanged passes on the right and when the latter sent over a cross, Taylor bravely got on the end of it to head Thistle into a deserved lead.
Claire Adams, who has been busy making a slot in the Thistle midfield her own since coming into the starting eleven, and Falconer and Henderson all came close to increasing the Thistle lead before Thistle did net a second goal with 32 minutes on the clock when Donaldson found the net with a superb effort from outside the box.
A third Thistle goal would surely end the game as a contest and Thistle started the second half firmly on the front foot looking for that killer third goal.
Adams saw a shot saved and McGowan dragged an effort narrowly wide of Rhind’s right-hand post, but Thistle had to wait only until the 6th minute of the second half to score again.
Donaldson provided the assist with a low cross from the left that Ferguson fired low past Rhind for the goal that her performance so richly deserved.
Six minutes later and 3-0 became 4-0.
Once again Donaldson provided the assist with a low cross from the left with Taylor at the back post this time applying the finish for her second goal of the afternoon.
With the win all but secured Brian Graham took the opportunity to make some changes but with no lessening in intensity of Thistle performance.
It was one of the substitutes introduced, Jordan McLintock, that extended the Thistle lead further after 74 minutes when she converted a penalty after she herself had been fouled.
It could even have been a sixth for Thistle and a second for McLintock with 80 minutes on the clock, but she was denied by another good stop from Rhind, who impressed after her early introduction into the action, with Charlotte Terry unable to hit target when the ball fell into her path.
There would be one further goal before the final whistle but while essentially meaningless in the context of the destination of the points it was still a frustrating one for Thistle to concede with yet another clean sheet so close to being recorded. The referee spotted what he considered a handball after Falconer had cleared a cross from the Thistle left and awarded the home side a penalty that was converted by Quinn to complete the scoring for the afternoon.
