Penalty pain for Accies in Arbroath
Hamilton assistant John Rankin knows Accies performed well at Championship leaders Arbroath - but how a 2-2 draw panned out has frustrated him.
A Nicky Low penalty for the Gayfield side was sandwiched between strikes from Dan O’reilly and Andy Ryan and it look like Accies – who were without head coach Stuart Taylor for the match last Wednesday night due to Covid isolation – suffered late penalty heartache.
In the dying minutes, Brian Easton went to ground for a tackle with home striker Jack Hamilton, bringing him down in the box and Michael Mckenna’s penalty snatched three points away from Rankin’s side as they sit sixth in the Championship.
He said:“we’ve scored two completely different goals that were well-worked. It put us in a good position and in the second half, I didn’t feel threatened at all. We were comfortable and we had a lot of leaders out on the pitch.
“A lot of voices were out there determined not to concede. Then the penalty happens and it’s a difficult one as I don’t think we need to go and challenge. Brian Easton held his hands up in the changing room and said he didn’t need to go to ground. Fair play to him for saying that, but to concede a penalty at that stage, it’s hard to take.
“We defended so well throughout the game and we conceded two penalties. We took the chances that came our way and I thought we showed some great battling qualities.
“Arbroath are top of the league because they are the best battling team. They pick up second balls and make it difficult for you. We did that to them.”