Sunday 17th February, 2019 at 4:00pm
It was another battling draw for Partick Thistle Women’s FC on Sunday as they drew 1-1 with Hamilton Accies to make it two points from two games at the beginning of the 2019 Scottish Building Society SWPL 2 season.
Dionne Brown had given Accies an early lead on three minutes but the Jags fought back and levelled things two minutes into the second half through Mhairi Hawksworth. Late on, the away side hit the bar and forced a good save out of Nicolle Andrews but Thistle held on and secured the draw against recently relegated Hamilton.
Following the final whistle, we spoke to head coach, James McCafferty, about the game.
“I didn’t think there was much between the two teams. Obviously, Hamilton are coming down from the top flight and are one of the favourites for promotion but the team gave a great account of themselves.”
The Jags fell behind just a few minutes into the game and James said it was disappointing to concede so early on.
“Coming into the game, we know it’s going to be tough and you want to get through the first 15 or 20 minutes to allow everyone to settle into the game but that early goal made things difficult.”
He was pleased though with the way the side bounced back from the quick opener to stand toe-to-toe with Hamilton for the rest of the game.
“We didn’t let it knock us too much which I think shows the character that this team has. We have some great personalities in the team and that was a big part in us being able to come from behind and get a draw after a tough start.
“You could see the genuine self-belief in the team and at no point did they give up on it because they knew they could still come back and get something from the game. We got our reward in the equaliser and for a spell in the second half it looked like we might have gone on to win it.”
The goal that the Jags did get came after a goalkeeping mistake but McCafferty says that it doesn’t matter what types of goals his team are scoring as long as they go in.
“I suppose it was similar to their goal in that it was a bit of a gift but it comes from Mhairi’s pressing which forces the mistake. After not scoring last week, it was good to get a goal and we’ll look to build on that going forward.”
Nicolle Andrews picked up an injury just ahead of half-time and was struggling a little bit in the second half. Nevertheless, she popped up with a crucial save in the dying moments of the match and James was quick to praise the goalkeeper’s fighting spirit.
“It seems like she’d done something to her thigh but she said she was willing to soldier on. Even so, we still had to make some little tweaks like getting a defender to take goal kicks which isn’t ideal but she then makes a great save at a crucial moment in the game and that shows how important she is to this team.”
Full match highlights of our draw with Hamilton Accies WFC are available here.
The team face Rangers Women next week in the Scottish Women’s Cup with kick-off 12:30 at Petershill Park.
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