Captainconfident fortitlechallenge

Then 10 minutes later, it looked virtually game over for Accies as they went down to nine men.

There seemed little danger when Boyle picked the ball up on the right, but Gordon lunged in for a reckless challenge and — having been booked earlier — was shown a second yellow by referee Finnie.

Although the game should have been over as a contest, Accies kept plugging away and still looked to cause the home side problems.

Indeed, a Willie Dyer deflection was needed to divert a MacKinnon effort over the bar in 70 minutes after Dundee failed to clear their lines from a corner.

Kyle Benedictus was then booked as the nerves seemed to creep in around the ground, with fans perhaps fearing a repeat of the previous weekend’s late drama againstAlloa.

A needless foul again by Benedictus on Andreu gave Accies another chance with nine minutes left, and Letheren did well to claw Crawford’s free-kick away from his top left-hand corner.

It was all nervier than it should really have been, but Hartley’s men held out and were given an extra boost at full-time upon hearing about Falkirk’s slip-up in Dumfries.

“We didn’t want to sit back on the lead but it’s a clean sheet and we said to the players if you get a clean sheet you won’t lose any games,” Hartley noted.

“I just felt we could see the game out and we deserved to win the game.”

Hamilton boss Alex Neil felt his team failed to get going quickly enough.

“As I said to the players after the game, for whatever reason it has taken us getting two men sent off before we go about our business the right way,” he said.

“But I thought for the last 40 minutes of the game we were excellent and worked our socks off.

“It’s disappointing we didn’t get that from the start of the match, because if we did I think we would have won the game,” he added. DUNDEE captain Gavin Rae believes his side are capable of staying on the Championship summit between now and the end of the season, writes Craig Smith.

The D a rk Blues returned to the top of the table thanks to a 1-0 win over Hamilton in new manager Paul Hartley’s first game in charge, taking advantage of f e l l ow promotion hopefuls Falkirk’s defeat in Dumfries.

The combination of results moved Dundee three points clear once more, although they have been on top before this season, only to fall from their lofty perch with a below-par performance soon after.

But Rae reckons there is a new-found belief among the players that they can go on to be champions under new manager Hartley.

“We know it’s going to be difficult and there’s still a long way to go,” he said.

“But if we keep pressing and keep up the kind of tempo we had against Hamilton then, hopefully, we’ll be there or thereabouts.

“It was the perfect start for the new manager. The most important thing was obviously the win, and in the first half we were probably the best we’ve been this season, if not one of the best performances.

“We had a good tempo, and although we made it hard for ourselves second half I thought overall we deserved the win.”

Dundee’s skipper has been impressed with the impact Hartley has had since taking over from John Brown last week.

“The manager has been very positive since he’s come in and the boys have taken to him,” he said.

“He’s very positive about the place and giving boys confidence, so it’s been good.

“We’ve all been appreciating that, and obviously getting the win is a great start for us under Paul.

“What he’s done certainly seems to have worked so far, so hopefully that can continue.

“I’ve played with him at Scotland and done coaching with him as well, but the most important thing was getting the win.”

Rae also heaped praise on Saturday’s scorer Martin Boyle after the 20-year-old notched his first senior goal for the club.

He added:“We had a lot of good forward attacking play, and I thought young Martin was outstanding.

“He’s waited on his chance this season and he’s come in in the last few games, but I thought he caused Hamilton numerous problems with his pace. It’s great to see him getting that goal as well.

“I’m absolutely chuffed for him. I travel in with him and you can definitely see he’s improved this season.

“It’s just about getting that confidence of playing week-in, week-out for the first team and he certainly looks like he belongs there now, without a doubt. He was part-time when he was with Montrose and it’s a case of him getting used to full-time now, but he looks as if he’s ready to kick on.

“This season in the reserves he’s been outstanding, and I’m delighted to see him replicate that for the first team.”

Picture: SNS Group. Paul Hartley shows his support for his players at full-time.