I’m Ball player
Black Cats legend inspires Accies’ Nathan
HAMILTON winger Nathan Thomas believes being schooled by Sunderland hardman Kevin Ball helped instil the mentality he’ll need to steer Accies away from relegation. The 26-year-old arrived in South Lanarkshire six weeks ago and, having performed well in the victory over Kilmarnock a fortnight ago, believes he’s just the man Brian Rice needs in the scrap against the drop. Thomas, who’ll face Ross County today, said: “I came through the SuSunderlandunderland Youth AAcademy under KKevin Ball, who is a leglegendgend at the club. “Once you were in a full-fuull-time apprentice KevKevinvin changed you fromm a boy to a man in a mmatter of weeks. He wass old-school and madmadede you grow up really quickly. You come out of school and go in there and the next thing you know you’re a man. He was fantastic for my development.
“You go from kids football, which everybody knows ain’t great, into men’s football and he was really good with me. It was very demanding. Everything you could possibly think that Kevin was, he was.
“You would never do anything wrong because you wouldn’t want to face him. But then again, you wouldn’t want to let him down either. He invested so much time and effort into every individual.
“Sunderland were quite successful with what came through the Academy. Jordan Henderson had come through and then in my youth team, there was George Honeyman, who is Hull captain now. Jordan Pickford was also the year above us.
“It was a successful team and players were building careers for themselves. That’s all testament to the work that Kevin put in with us.
“We were used to winning football games at the Academy. We were bred to be winners and it didn’t matter what it took to get wins.
“It was about being ready for any situation, whether it be Premier League football or non-league. That gets a bit lost at the minute in the academy systems. In men’s football, the only thing that matters is winning games. It’s all about that scoreline.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton boss Rice has bemoaned the fact he’ll be without striker Marios Ogkmpoe for up to six weeks.
The Greek hitman has undergone surgery on a knee injury.
Rice said: “Mario had his operation on Thursday for a cartilage problem. We hope it went okay but we’ll find out in the next 24 hours. Hopefully we get him back in four to six weeks.”