Hamilton Accies produced a stirring comeback against Spartans in the SWPL Cup to leave Robert Watson bursting with pride.
The Accies assistant was delighted that his side displayed a never-say-die attitude despite trailing 2-0 at the break from a Becky Galbraith double.
Hamilton rallied to produce an impressive second half performance to seal a draw courtesy of goals from Megan Quigley and the excellent Josephine Girard.
Spartans only missed out on a top four place in the SWPL1 by a point last season and Watson insists Accies’ response should fill the players with confidence ahead of next season.
“We were two goals down without even playing badly,” Watson admitted.
“You have to give Spartans credit because they started very, very well.
“We were still creating chances and we always felt like we’d get a goal. We scored early in the second half before putting them under a lot of pressure.
“I felt we were unlucky not to get a penalty but Josie popped up with a brilliant goal in the last ten minutes.
“We had another great chance after that but we were delighted with the response from our players.
“We never panicked after falling behind. We would have been happy with a point ahead of the game considering how well Spartans performed last season.
“Historically, we’ve always had close games with them and that’s the level that we want to be competing at this season.”
Accies host Glasgow Girls at New Douglas Park on Sunday as they look to bolster their qualification chances.
Spartans face a tough task against Glasgow City and Watson wants to establish a strong position in the group ahead of their final game.
“We can’t wait to get back to New Douglas Park in front of our supporters,” Watson admitted.
“We played Glasgow Girls as part of our pre-season programme so we know a lot about them.
“Hopefully the fans can witness us getting a positive result and it would put us in a good position to qualify for the next round of the cup.
“We’ve signed Tara McGonigle from Glasgow, so hopefully we’ve got a little bit of inside information on them.
“It’s a team that we know loads about and they’ll try to get the ball down and play.
"I feel that we’ve moved on a level recently. You could see that last season and against a team that finished just outside the top four last season.
“We’ve got a lot to be positive about going into the game and we need to impose ourselves on Glasgow.
“If we can win on Sunday and Glasgow City beat Spartans then we will be in a strong position.
“We have City in our last game and it will be brilliant to welcome the champions and one of the best teams in Europe to New Douglas Park.”
Accies achieved promotion from SWPL2 after a dramatic final day win over Kilmarnock last season.
They’ve managed to retain the majority of their squad ahead of their return to SWPL1 but assistant Watson hopes to add a few new faces before their league opener against Hearts.
He added: "We know it’s going to be tough but we are working really hard as a unit. Our strength is that we’ve kept the core of our squad together from last season.
“People might look down on them as SWPL2 players but we’ve been together for a year and have some quality in our squad.
“We are still looking to add one or two before the start of the league season. We’ve had really positive discussions so we hope to have some movement soon.
“We’ve got a really strong squad and players are returning from injury so we are in a really good place.”
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