Seeing off archrivals was ideal first foot for Rice
Brian Rice saluted his Hamilton players for the collective spirit they displayed in beating Motherwell.
Accies kept up their fine record against the Steelmen with a convincing 3-0 victory in the Lanarkshire derby.
The win lifted Rice’s men to 10th place and sent Motherwell down to joint bottom.
It was the first time Accies had won a game by three goals since August 2017.
Rice said: “I couldn’t ask for a better start to the new year.
“I have a group of young players that play for the badge on the front of the jersey not the name on the back of it.
“As long as they do that, I can’t have any complaints. I’m delighted by the grittiness of the performance. We were still determined not to lose a goal when we were 3-0.
“The p e r f o r ma n c e was exceptional. I’m absolutely delighted for everyone at the club.
“I ’m not making excuses but it’s a fact that we have had problems with the Covid situation and with a lot of injuries.”
The Hamilton boss was pleased with the quality of his team as well as their attitude.
They were given a fairly easy afternoon by an insipid Motherwell side but they undoubtedly grew in confidence as the game went on.
Rice added: “People sometimes forget that I have one or two players that can play a wee bit.
“You’ll get some people who think you can’t play when you put on an Accies jersey.
“We had everything performance.
“The goals came from good play.
“I don’t know if it’s the best performance since I’ve taken charge – we went to Pittodrie and won, we also went to Ibrox and won.
“What I can say is that this is a good as it gets for the first game of a new year against your local rivals.”
Hamilton are unbeaten in four encounters with Motherwell and have won t h re e of those clashes.
Rice said: “It’s a bit different in a local derby. You have to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in.
“You have to win the individual battles.
“We’ve had four clean sheets in seven games and that’s two this week.
“I said to the lads that the teams around us in the league – Motherwell, St Jo h n s t o n e, Ross County – we’ve not lost goals against them and we’ve not really done that before.
“People will look at us and think it’s just the defence, but it’s not.
“It’s starting from the front two and everyone’s contributing.” a bit of in the