Super sub Bloomfield gets last-gasp points for 10-man Accies
Mason Bloomfield came off the bench to score his first ever goal in senior football, giving Hamilton Accies a precious three points and their first victory in the Premiership since September 22.
Yet, the odds were stacked against Martin Canning’s men as they were reduced to 10 when Mikael Miller was sent off for his second yellow card in the 86th minute. But the Lanarkshire side never gave up and they scored 60 seconds later after sub Steven Boyd slipped Bloomfield through.
It gave the former Dagenham and Redbridge striker the chance to be a hero and he made no mistake, kept his composure and placed a shot past the onrushing Livingston keeper Liam Kelly from 18 yards.
Canning was thrilled for the player, who had only been on the pitch for seven minutes after replacing Freddy Brustad.
Canning said: “It was a huge three points for us.
“There wasn’t a lot in the game and there wasn’t a lot of quality. Livingston make you defend your box and they put a lot of balls in there, so we knew we had to defend well and we did that.
“The back four were fantastic, and the midfielders picked up a lot of second balls.
“We got Fredrik Brustad through in the first half and if we had scored then it could have been a different game, but in the second half Gary Woods made a great save.
“I was delighted with our goal. “It is credit to Mason because he hasn’t had as many chances as he would have liked but his attitude has been spot-on.
“All the boys work hard and that is a wee lesson for everyone that if you keep working hard you will get an opportunity.
“He will feel a million dollars right now and rightly so.”
Canning had no complaints with the red card for Miller but that is now three suspensions in the past week and the manager has told his players to be cuter when showing aggression.
He said: “You can see why the red card was given.
“Sometimes it isn’t a booking, but other times it is.
“Mikael was a bit naive. I want the players to fight for every ball, but when you are booked you have to think about what you are doing.
“That is the last three games we have had someone sent off.
“We can’t afford to keep losing important players every week and it is something we will speak about.”
The first half wasn’t too pleasant on the eye.
Accies had the best chance and it came in the 24th minute when Brustad was clean through but his powerful shot was brilliantly saved by the impressive Kelly.
But Livvy had two similar chances after the interval.
In the 50th minute Craig Sibbald released Scott Pittman with an eye-of-the-needle ball.
He looked a cert to score but Woods made a stunning stop.
Dolly Menga then looked a cert to score when he robbed Delphin Tshiembe of possession 25 yards out and created a nice angle for himself. But he screwed his shot wide from 15 yards.
When you miss such glaring opportunities you will eventually get punished. And that’s what happened to the visitors.
This was their second defeat this week and Gary Holt will be interested to see how his players bounce back.
They did almost nick at point at the end when sub Bobby Burns rattled off the crossbar but it clearly wasn’t going to be Livingston’s day against a resolute and hard-working Accies team.
This win has pulled the Lanarkshire side further away from Dundee and St Mirren and they are delighted.