TALKING HAMILTON ACCIES Tomas reckons Antonio’s X- FACTOR can save Accies
HAMILTON supporters had to wait a long time to see striker Antonio Rojano in action, but Accies defender Xavier Thomas says his team-mate will definitely be worth the wait, and could even keep them up this season.
Frenchman Tomas formed a friendship with the Argentinian forward travelling to training together as they both speak Spanish, but the training ground is as far as Rojano got for almost two months as he awaited clearance to play.
Now that has finally arrived, and Rojano has wasted no time making his mark, climbing off the bench last week to seal the win over Dundee with his first goal for Martin Canning’s side.
And Tomas believes it will be the first of many for the club this season once his friend is up to full fitness.
“He brings a lot to the team,” said Tomas.
“He had been waiting a long time and also doing a lot of training alone. He is a good player and brings something different to our attack.
“The last game he deserved to get his goal because he was working hard. I believe he can be a very important player for us, and can help us stay in the Premier Division.
“We are a team firstly. Antonio, though, can give us more and I think he is good for us.
“He can hold up the ball and also with one touch he can give a good pass, like he showed at Dundee. I also believe he can give us more power.
“I speak with him all the time. I bring him every day to training because he doesn’t have a car. I also speak Spanish and Antonio asks me a lot of things.
“The first month wasn’t easy for him — but I think he is happy now. He has an apartment now and he feels more settled.
“I think he wants to make his name here. It’s his first year in Europe. He hopes to do well with Hamilton and make something else in the future.
“But Antonio knows he has to fight this season, he has two years in his contract. He needs to improve and most importantly score goals.”
CENTRE-BACK Tomas was delighted with the way Accies defended last week as they ended a run of seven games without a win with the victory at Dens Park.
And he knows they will have to put in a similarly disciplined performance to get anything from Aberdeen today.
“For me, Aberdeen are one of the best teams after Celtic,” he said. “They play very good, offensive football and they are definitely one of the strongest teams in the country.”
But what Aberdeen don’t seem to enjoy, is visiting the Superseal Stadium. Whatever the reason for that, be it in their heads or down to the pitch, Tomas hopes to make it an uncomfortable experience for them once more.
“I don’t think they like to come here,” he said. “I think we need to keep that.
“It is a psychological problem for them and this can help us do well against Aberdeen here.
“Of course, it can also help us the situation with the pitch. We train on the synthetic and we know how to deal with it. But we also need to believe in ourselves.”