Ajleaves Hamilton

Aaron Mcgowan says captaining Hamilton Accies to an historic win over Rangers at Ibrox will stay with him forever after he left the club.

The 23-year-old rightback joined Accies from Morecambe in 2018 and went on to make over 50 appearances, including in the 1-0 win over Gers in March, but turned down a new deal.

‘AJ’ said: “Captaining the team to historic wins in front of 50,000 people will stay with me forever.

“From winning goal of the month, to 90th minute equalisers, to derby goals, to last day survival and to have started every single win we’ve had since I joined two years ago is a stat I’m proud of.”

Steven Davies was a victim of Hamilton’s enforced Covid-19 cutbacks, but admits he’s left Lanarkshire on good terms.

The striker wasn’t offered a new deal by gaffer Brian Rice last month and has returned home to Liverpool to be closer to his family, a move he insists he was keen to make anyway after 18 months in Scotland.

Yet he has no hard feelings and admits he would be back at New Douglas Park in a heartbeat, such is his love for the club.

The 32-year-old said:“it wasn’t the way I wanted it to end, but being away from my wife and kids for so long was starting to get a little bit tough.

“Knowing that the club needs to hold back finances, it was going to be difficult all round, so the best thing for me was to come back home to look for something closer and make sure the club was protected as well.

“I spoke to Brian and [chairman] Allan Maitland and they made it obvious to me that the club was going to hold back on players.

“I was very happy at Hamilton, but not being at home was tough.

“When I spoke to them and they asked how would I feel about coming back, I said, listen, I think my time has passed here and I want to be at home with my family.

“To be fair, Brian had the same idea. He was obviously going to have to make cutbacks and it just worked out the way it has.

“But I’ve got nothing but fond memories.

“It’s a club I’ll always be fond of and if they asked me tomorrow to come and help them out, I’d drop everything and go.

“That’s the kind of relationship