Hamilton Accies Women showed 'personality and bottle' to clinch SWPL2

Accies Women won the title, and an instant return to SWPL1, with a game to spare

15:36, 13 May 2025Updated 15:36, 13 May 2025

Hamilton Accies won the SWPL2 title with a 1-0 win at Gartcairn on Sunday, and with a game to spare(Image: Fabrizio Fella)

Robert Watson says his Hamilton Accies side showed personality and bottle to clinch the SWPL2 title with a game to spare.

A Keira Ritchie header saw Accies beat Gartcairn 1-0 at MTC Park in Airdrie to be crowned champions by four points over a Kilmarnock side that beat Livingston 6-0 on Sunday.

‌

Bouncing back to the top flight at the first time of asking, with possibly the lowest budget in the division, is a source of pride for Watson, who was assistant to Gary Doctor when Accies last won it back in 2016.

‌

Watson said: “There’s a mixture of relief, because it has been a long season, and the last couple of weeks were probably quite nervy, but also a real sense of pride.

“As I said last season, when we got relegated, a league table doesn’t lie, and you finish where you deserve.

“I feel we’ve been the best team in the league this season, and that’s why we’ve finished top, and done it with a game to spare.

Article continues below

“One of the targets we set was to win every head-to-head, and we’ve done that, with the exception of one.

Keira Ritchie scored Hamilton's winner against Gartcairn, and she is pictured celebrating with Chaz McGuire(Image: Fabrizio Fella)

“When you do that, you give yourself an incredible chance to go and win something, and the players have shown real personality and bottle, especially after losing the games back-to-back against Boroughmuir and Kilmarnock, which is the only time all season we’ve lost two games in a row.

‌

“It has been an incredible year, and I’m so pleased for all the players and the people who were with us last season, because it was horrible to be relegated.

“We looked at it then and said the main aim was to be promoted at the first time of asking.

“They’ve managed to do that, and they deserve all the credit that’s going to be coming their way.”

‌

Watson is delighted to have bounced straight back and said: “You set targets at the start of the season and you say you want to do that, but you obviously need to have a sense of realism and understand how difficult it will be.

Chloe Muir and Shelly Campbell celebrate Hamilton's title win(Image: Fabrizio Fella)

“We didn’t even have the biggest budget in Premier League 2, never mind Premier League 1, so it was always going to be very tough, but we signed really well over the summer.

Article continues below

“One of the biggest strengths we had was we stuck by those players. We made one signing in January, and that was only because a player decided to move on, and we were able to bring Chloe Muir back, but it has been the same 22 players we’ve used all season.

“That closeness and the experiences we went through in the first half of the season really held us together when maybe a couple of things started to get nervy. We didn’t panic at any point we believed and stuck by the players and staff that we had, and that showed to be the right decision.”