Future of Accies youth academy was on line before Doc’s pricless strike
GREG DOCHERTY has revealed the inspiration behind his priceless goal for Hamilton was the future of the club’s academy.
The 20-year-old midfielder, one of Accies many players promoted from the youth ranks, was left in no doubt about the importance of beating Dundee United in Sunday’s Ladbrokes Premiership Final play-off.
Accies head of youth, George Cairns, gave Docherty a pep talk before the match about what could happen should the day end badly and his wise words did the trick.
Docherty revealed: “It’s huge for the club in terms of finance and attracting players. I obvi- ously came through the youth academy and George Cairns pulled me in and said ‘you need to do it for the youths as we need the youth academy.’
“I’ve been here a long time and I’m happy and glad to give something back.”
That is Hamilton’s strength. The players there feel they owe the club. This has produced a closeness and spirit which is quite obviously missing from other teams.
And you could tell the players felt for Martin Canning who looked in bits at the end of the second-leg clash
The Hamilton boss has in recent weeks been forced to listen to some ugly personal abuse directed at him from the main stand as results went the wrong way and all of a sudden relegation became a reality.
Docherty said: “l will always be eternally grateful to him. He gave me my chance and I’ve racked up around 70 games under him, he’s believed in me and put me in big games, big occasions and never doubted me.
“I hope the manager gets backing now. Going into these games there was a l ot of positivity on social media, the fans were excellent.
“It’s massive for us to be in the Premiership again, we’ve beaten the three-year record of being in the league so that’s another boost.
“It’s a position I didn’t want to be in, I’d rather we weren’t playing in these games and I’d rather not be talking to you all just now about this. But it happened and we won and we build on it from here.”
Docherty is one of his team’s better players and, even if he doesn’t show his best all the time, the young lad has a chance, especially if he can replicate Sunday’s goal a lot more next season.
HE SAID: “A few of the boys in the team will probably tell you that they call be the stand-finder with my shots. It’s not a nickname I like, so I’ve been itching to prove them wrong.
“Thankfully in the last five or six games I’ve been getting closer and closer and finally one dropped for me.
“That was my sweetest moment in football. It won’t sink for a very long time. You could see it meant so much to the fans and for the players we didn’t know what to do, I just wanted the game to end then and there.
“We’ve got a good squad here and we deserve to be in the Premiership and I’m so glad we’ve stayed up.
“We’re a small club, we’ve got a small catchment area but we do well. We’re all passionate, we always give 100 per cent every single day and we’ll continue to do that. I think that’s the Hamilton way.”
Hamilton’s players deserve huge credit for holding their nerve, especially on Sunday when so much was at stake.
Docherty said: “If you want to be a footballer you have to deal with pressure. I’m delighted, I can’t describe my emotions.
“But when they added on three minutes of injury time at the end, it was the longest three minutes of my life but it’s over and I’ll go and enjoy my summer now.” club which makes you better, and that can only lead to success.”
Lamie says the club has undergone a huge transformation since the days when Morton was part-time and scrambling to get out of League One.
He told the club’s website: “My mates have come down and watched games and my dad as well, and they’ve said it’s night and day from when I was 18 or 19, playing part-time and training two nights a week.
“As a player training full-time every day, there’s no hiding the fact that you advance your game. Every week and month that has gone by I felt as though I’ve developed my all-round game. You’re learning every day.”