Gary Doctor has urged Hamilton Accies Women to earn promotion to SWPL1 with a win over Kilmarnock – and insisted they’ve come too far to fall at the final hurdle.
A win at New Douglas Park on Sunday will see Doctor’s side finish second in the table, but the Ayrshire side will come looking to spoil the party, with Partick Thistle and Dundee United breathing down their necks.
Third-placed Jags are at Dundee United, who are a point behind them, but Doctor says Hamilton’s promotion dream is in their own hands.
He said: “It’s a massive game. We’ve done really well to get to this point; probably a few weeks ago it looked quite far away with the schedule, and the demands that were going to be on us.
“We had Partick, Aberdeen, Dundee United in a row, but the players were brilliant, got the three wins. Unfortunately we stumbled at the weekend there [with a 1-1 draw at Boroughmuir], but it certainly wasn’t through lack of effort or anything like that.
“It was just one of those days where it was a bit of an accumulation and we couldn’t get over the line.
“But it’s still in our hands, a win on Sunday and we’re in – we know that if we win the game we earn promotion, and whoever goes up deserves it.
“We did the hard work in that run after the St Johnstone defeat, and coming out and winning those three games – and putting in some really top performances – has really put us in this position.
“Now we need to take advantage of it, otherwise it would feel like a bit of a waste, beating the top teams in the league to then stumble now.”
Doctor says Accies have been working hard to get back up to SWPL1 for three years, and hopes that will act as an extra catalyst.
“Promotion would be huge,” he said. “We’ve been striving for it since we were relegated in 2018, and it feels like such a long period.
“We just missed out in the 2019 season, and this year there’s that runners-up spot, so we’ve had our sights set on that since day one.
“We really want to get there, and maybe that played into some of our anxieties once or twice earlier in the season.
“Since we’ve returned we’ve been a little bit looser and more relaxed, and that will stand us in good stead going into Sunday’s game against Kilmarnock.
“You don’t get that many promotions or championships, and it will be a big achievement to do it.”
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