Accies haunted by errors.. again
Hamiltonhumbledashibsdigintoimpressnewboss
Hamilton fell to their first defeat under new boss Brian Rice, as Hibs ran out comfortable winners at Easter Road.
The visitors had a go, particularly in the first half, but Hibs simply picked them off, and when Accies keeper Gary Woods gifted them the opener, it calmed the hosts’ nerves as they tried to impress new boss Paul Heckingbottom.
Marc Mcnulty’s penalty made sure of all three points.
Accies boss Brian Rice made three changes to the side that beat St Johnstone, with Tony Andreu, Mickel Miller and David Mcmillan in for Dougie Imrie, Steven Boyd and Steve Davies.
Heckingbottom took charge of Hibs for the first time, but kept faith with the side that ousted Raith Rovers from the Scottish Cup.
The hosts created the first clearcut chance in seven minutes, when Mcnulty darted down the right and fed Florian Kamberi, but Woods got down well to block his shot at the near post, and the rebound was eventually Despite the defeat, this was an improvement from Accies, who at least tried to make it difficult for Hibs cleared. Hamilton created a decent move of their own in 10 minutes, which ended with Andreu’s low shot being well taken by Ofir Marciano.
Hibs took the lead in 17 minutes in unorthodox style. Daryl Horgan’s cross from the left bounced through the box and Kamberi got the slightest of touches to divert it past Woods and into the bottom right corner. The hosts nearly doubled their lead in 33 minutes when Kamberi beat Woods to a header at the left post, but the ball hit off the top of the bar and landed in the keeper’s arms. Hibs wrapped up the points in 39 minutes when Lenny Sowah was harshly penalised for a foul on David Gray just inside the box, and Mcnulty smashed the penalty into the bottom right corner.
Accies tried to hit back in 52 minutes when Miller went on a run down the right and checked inside, but fired his shot over. Aaron Mcgowan cleared a Ziggy Gordon made his 190th appearance for Hamilton, while Lewis Smith and Reegan Mimnaugh made their second appearances. Hamilton were again the architects of their own downfall, with a keeper error and a penalty