Thumbs down

Lifelong Hamilton Accies fan Lewis Smith scored one and set up another as his side swept Kilmarnock away at New Douglas Park.

Smith struck in 20 minutes, latching onto an Aaron Mcgowan header before checking inside and curling a sweet shot past Killie keeper Laurentiu Branescu.

The 19-year-old then turned provider in 49 minutes when his angled shot was deflected past Branescu by George Oakley – though Smith isn’t convinced.

“I didn’t actually see George touch it, but he’s 100 per cent claiming that he did,” laughed the Academy graduate. “It was really nice to get an assist and it’s good for him, because he worked his socks off as well, and led by example.”

Hamilton should have been given a chance to make it 3-0 with a penalty in 52 minutes when Oakley was clearly brought down inside the box by Stuart Findlay, but referee Bobby Madden wasn’t interested.

Play raged down the other end, Brian Easton pulled down Liam Miller on the left wing, and was shown a straight red card.

Although Smith admitted defending was “backs-to-the-wall at times” thereafter, Killie didn’t really threaten too much, which will be a source of disappointment to manager Angelo Alessio and support.

Killie were in this game and, possession-wise, they were probably the better team in the first half, but Accies made the most of their chances.

It took the Ayrshire side five minutes to recover from the opening goal, and when they did, Eamonn Brophy’s shot on the turn was well saved by Fonwilliams, parrying the ball to safety.

Kirk Broadfoot headed a Chris Burke corner inches past in 26 minutes, and at the other end Blair Alston set up Smith for a shot on goal, but he fired it straight at Branescu.

Smith had another chance to score but dragged his shot wide of target.

The game was pretty much over with Oakley’s first goal of the season, but Killie kept trying and in 70 minutes sub Innes Cameron’s point-blank header was brilliantly saved by Owain Fonwilliams.

The Welsh keeper slapped over a Burke shot, and the former Rangers star headed over nearly an open goal late on.

Smith was just pleased with the win and said: “Everybody was excellent, but on a personal note it was really nice to get the goal. their large travelling

“I got the ball out of my feet, got it onto my left foot and thankfully it went into the back of the net.

“When Eastie got sent off, everybody dug in and kept together, and the boys helped me a lot. Defence is probably not my strong point, but they helped me a lot, talked to me, and we got what we deserved, I think, in the end.”

The win was especially important in light of last week’s 3-0 capitulation at Ross County, and Smith said: “Last week we were all disappointed in ourselves.

“We didn’t put in a good enough performance, but I felt that we made up for that.

“It was a really important three points and it was good to get them.”