HAMILTON 1 WHACKIES 0
Nine-man Saints clobbered at the end after bust-up that saw two players red carded
Martin Canning last night insisted Hamilton were in the clear over the chaos at New Douglas Park.
The Accies manager saw his team haul themselves off the foot of the table with a last-minute strike from Alex D’Acol.
However, the main focus surrounding Canning af ter the contest was the involvement of his players and staff in the ug ly ha l f- t ime scenes which saw St Johnstone reduced to nine men.
Ref Don Robertson gave red cards to Saints’ Danny Swanson and Richard Foster for battling each other – and also to Canning’s assistant Guillame Beuzelin for his part in the fall- out.
But the Accies gaffer felt his camp had no case to answer. Canning said: “It was one of those days when everything that could have happened actually happened.
“I didn’t see it, I just saw the end and them being pulled apart as I was turning to walk up the tunnel
“I realised something was going on and myself and Boozy headed on to the park to make sure our players were not getting involved.
“Myself and Boozy both said to the referee that it should be two red cards because it was a fight on the pitch.
“Their players have taken exception to Boozy speaking to the referee and expressing that opinion, just as I was going to do.
“Boozy was then sent-off and it turned into a big of a mess.
“It’s not what you want to see. We shouldn’t be seeing that on the pitch, it’s about the football. But the other way around, I think everyone would do the exact same things.
“I’m pretty sure they would react the same way and we would react the same way.
“If you put the two teams in the same position, I think both would act in the way they did.
“I was really pleased our players kept away from it and didn’t get involved.
“I haven’t seen it back. I’m just speaking on what I saw.”
Accies took advantage of Saints’ misbehaviour to secure a priceless win.
The football in the first half before the chaos was poor. Greg Docherty had a shot beaten away by Saint goalie Alan Mannus, who was back for a first start in seven months.
Ali Crawford also fired over from long range for Accies, as did Rakish Bingham twice from inside the penalty area.
Saints didn’t offer much with Swanson’s free-kick saved by Remi Matthews before his next kick – at a team-mate – sparked the half-time mayhem.
Fighting with Foster, the winger appeared to sink a boot into his colleague as bedlam broke out immediately after the whistle had blown for the interval. Both sets of players, management and staff were then embroiled in an ugly and heated touchline row which continued down the tunnel.
Robertson, with the help of fourth official John McKendrick, waited until everyone was inside before dishing out the punishments.
Both Saints were sent- off during the interval and the lunacy was spreading, with Accies stars Dougie Imrie and Mikey Devlin having a heated argument under the nose of Robertson once the action resumed.
Wright’s nine men faced a massive task to cling on throughout the whole of the second half with their two-man disadvantage but they dug deep.
Hamilton had their opportunities as they dominated. Imrie and Bigham missed chances from close range and Mannus punched away a curler from Devlin. Sub
Ioannis Skondras also sliced wide when unmarked at the far post and Mannus produced a magnificent stop in the closing stages to tip over Crawford’s drive.
But D’Acol had the final say with his low finish after taking in Danny Redmond’s pass.
Canning said: “It was a huge three points. Our form at home of late has been pretty good and we now need to start picking up points on the road.
“We have a huge game against Motherwell on Wednesday and it’s an opportunity to get another three points.
“That’s eight games left and they are games we believe we can win.
“The other teams will be saying the same things but we need to make sure we stay focused and not get too high or too low.
“I repeat myself a lot. You have to enjoy it when you get a good result and I didn’t think the goal was going to come because we had good chances.
“Thankfully, we got the goal at the end and we probably deserved it.
“Even with 11 vs 11 on the pitch, we were the better team.”