Thumbs down

Darian Mackinnon belted in the first goal of Brian Rice’s reign as Hamilton head coach – and dedicated it to Dundee fans who wished his career was over.

Mackinnon suffered a serious knee injury in a 2-1 defeat at home to the Dark Blues in January, and actually came back in March somewhat against the odds.

As the midfielder was carried off, the visiting fans directed some vitriol towards him that he will never forget.

After Dundee goalkeeper Seny Dieng made a hash of a clearance, Tony Andreu found Steven Davies and he picked out Mackinnon, who unleashed a 20-yard thunderbolt into the top right corner to level inside stoppage time.

That was a sickener for Dundee, who had taken the lead through Scott Wright in 66 minutes, finally breaking down a hard working defence.

Daz said: “It was a good strike, I’m delighted – especially against them.

“I’ve not forgot the last time, when I hurt my knee, what they said to me, so I’m delighted my first goal of the season is against them. “It’s an unofficial derby, and that all comes down to what was said when they won the league and we got promoted. It’s different players and all that, obviously, but it’s always nice and you want to beat them. “I did my knee against them last season and I had 50 or 100 of them shouting at me that they hoped my career was over and all that, so that’s why I was really happy to score against them, and I’ll never forget. “They’re coming off the pitch thinking it’s a defeat, we’re coming off like it’s a victory.” Darian says change was needed at Hamilton, and everybody is on a clean slate as they try to impress the new gaffer. He said: “I really enjoyed that; even if we had lost, I would have enjoyed the way we played. I just wish we had scored when we were really on top, because I think we would have won 2-0 or 3-0, but that’s football. “Going a goal down, I don’t think we’ve come back many times this season, so us conceding that goal Hamilton last beat Dundee in October 2017; Dee have won all four matches between then and the draw on Saturday. and then coming back shows a bit character.”

He added: “Change is sometimes needed and it has been good. All the boys, every person there, has to prove themselves again.

“The old gaffer knew what you could do, but you need to prove yourself, or you won’t play, so it gives the whole place a lift. He wants us to go after teams again, and we all love playing football that way.

“If we had got beat it would have meant the gaffer’s time had started on a sour note, and we didn’t want that.

“Now it’s a positive, the place has a lift, and we look forward to the game against St Johnstone (last night).” of