Loan-signing Hamilton heads Lichties’ winner to continue debut habit

The vibes were good for Arbroath as soon as Jack Hamilton walked in the door on loan on Friday from Premiership Livingston.

It was his sixth loan deal since he signed for Livingston, having previously been at Penicuik, Berwick Rangers, Alloa Athletic, Queen of the South, East Fife, and now Arbroath.

The affable striker branded himself a “good luck charm” wherever he goes, having scored on his debuts with East Fife, Berwick and Penicuik. And now he can add Arbroath to that list.

Goal-hero Hamilton said: “I’m now 20 years old, so the more experience I get, the better.

“I feel that I’m developing well and hopefully I can get into the Livingston team as soon as possible.

“I thought I had scored earlier with a great ball in from Bobby Linn and I thought my header was going in but Brian Mclean did well to clear the ball off the line.”

The vital strike came in 77 minutes when defender Jason Thomson, who suffered a severe tonguelashing at the interval from boss Dick Campbell for not getting enough crosses into the box, whipped in a perfect delivery from the right for Hamilton to meet the ball perfectly and head past goalkeeper Aidan Mcadams, who was left hopelessly exposed.

Hamilton added: “I hadn’t even trained with my new team-mates and was still getting used to their names.

“I knew a couple, but I’ll get there in the end.

“I signed on Friday after Livingston boss Davie Martindale pulled me in on Thursday and told me Arbroath were interested to take me.

“I just wanted to get out and play and I’m delighted to be here.

“I started at East Fife, came back to Livingston, played a couple of games, started against Celtic and scored against Ross County, but the club are flying and it was going to be difficult to get into the team at present and I just wanted to get out and play.

“The Arbroath fans can expect hopefully more goals. I’ll play as well as I can and give everything I’ve got and try my best all the time.

“I can hold it in, I can shoot and I can run past defenders and hopefully I can get more goals.

“The Championship is a good league and a good standard and I’m excited we are off the bottom of the table and I scored in my first game.

“I will continue to train with Livingston during the day and on a Wednesday with Arbroath.”

The last two matches between these two sides had ended all-square and this victory ended a four-game run without a win over Morton for the Red Lichties.

“It was a fairytale start for Jack, bring on Inverness and Dunfermline,” said Arbroath boss Campbell.

Jack Hamilton scores the winner on his Arbroath debut.