McINNES HAILS PLAYERS DESPITE DRAWING BLANK
been put under the most pressure. ‘Mikey Devlin was outstanding, but Georgios Sarris, Scott McMann and Dougie Imrie defended our box so well — boys throwing their bodies on the line to try and block shots and stop crosses. In our position, we’ve got to do that. ‘Aberdeen have won ten out of 11, and the defeat was a 1-0 loss at Celtic Park, so that tells you the form they’re in. ‘We had to dig deep and we’ve taken a big three points. ‘As I say, the pleasing thing for me is that we defended our box because we’ve lost 22 points from winning positions this season. ‘But we saw the game out and we were disciplined.’ Aberdeen counterpart Derek McInnes was left bewildered by the way his team failed to even get on the scoresheet. Despite missing out on the chance to move 12 points clear of Rangers in second place, he insisted he couldn’t be critical of his players. There was, however, bad news on the injury front for McInnes, with Mark Reynolds facing four weeks out with a groin problem that forced his half-time substitution. Captain Ryan Jack is also set to miss Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Partick Thistle with an ankle injury. ‘I probably can’t remember a game where we’ve created as many chances and come away with nothing,’ said McInnes. ‘I was enjoying watching us. We weren’t panicking. We tried to do the right things and had a willingness to make things happen. ‘Sometimes, it doesn’t happen and maybe we needed that bit more ruthlessness. ‘We’re obviously disappointed by the result, but everyone took responsibility for the situation. It was such a high level of performance from my players.’
HAMILTON manager Martin Canning has admitted his side survived the biggest onslaught they have faced all season to climb off the foot of the Premiership. Canning lauded the defensive durability shown as Accies repelled relentless Aberdeen pressure — including 21 corners — to cling on to the advantage given by Michael Devlin’s ninth-minute goal. Darian MacKinnon’s dismissal with six minutes remaining created further concern, but Hamilton saw it through to claim a second home win over the Dons this season. The result lifts them to ninth in the standings, above Inverness, Motherwell and Ross County. ‘Obviously, Aberdeen had a lot of opportunities to put the ball into the box, but I thought, defensively, we were magnificent,’ said Canning. ‘That’s probably the game we’ve been on the back foot the most this season and we’ve