MOTHERWELL V HAMILTON ACCIES
GRAEME MACPHERSON
IT doesn’t seem that long ago that Brian Easton was the youthful prospect emerging at Hamilton Accies and being guided through the early steps of his career by the senior professionals at the club.
Thirteen years later and the shoe is on the other foot. Easton, now a veteran at 31 years old, is back for a third stint at his first club and fulfilling the role of experienced mentor to the batch of young talent emerging from Accies’ fabled youth academy.
All being well, the defender will make his 150th club appearance in tomorrow’s derby away to Motherwell.
And Easton would like nothing more than to commemorate that milestone with a victory in the final outing before the winter shutdown.
“It would be a great honour to make my 150th appearance for the club against Motherwell,” he said. “I obviously started my career here and played a fair few games in my first spell.
“And despite some of the results, I’ve been really happy and loving life back here again this season. It’s about bringing through young, homegrown talent and obviously it’s about picking up points.
“With the youth we have in this team – and from what I’ve seen so far from the majority of games this season – there’s enough there to get it right. Once we start picking up points these boys will get all of the experience they need and it’s about building for years ahead.
“The bottom line is making sure we start climbing the table as it’s important we get as high as we can.”
The Lanarkshire version is never likely to be mistaken for Boca Juniors versus River Plate when it comes to the intensity and passion of a derby.
But Easton insists that local rivalry will add a bit of extra spice to proceedings at Fir Park.
He added: “We need points on the board. But it’s also a derby and a victory over our rivals is something the fans are desperate for.
“It’s a massive game for us. It’s the last game before the winter break so we need to go in there looking to win the game. “If you look at the way we’ve played in the last few weeks then we are definitely capable of doing that. It’s just the little things we need to do better. Once we do that we will get that run going that we need to start climbing the table. “This league is so tight this season. If you can win three or four games and put a good run together then you quickly find yourself up the table and playing with a bit of confidence.
“You then open gaps up between teams. It’s still so tight at the bottom. We look at the way we played in the first half against St Johnstone and some of the second half and we know we are playing very well. If we can get the small things right then it’s going to hopefully turn around for us.”