HERO TO VILLAIN?
Andreu on a mission to haunt Hamilton
AN equalising goal ten seconds from the end of stoppage time. Followed by a successful conversion in the penalty shoot-out, helping to secure his team the most unlikely of promotions.
It is hardly a surprise that Tony Andreu still rates one squally Scottish summer’s day in Leith as maybe the greatest of his footballing career.
Nor should anyone with a working knowledge of football’s cruel fates have been stunned that this year’s Premiership Play-offs have now presented Andreu with an opportunity to undo all of his previous heroic work.
The Frenchman arguably did more than any other Hamilton player to lift Accies into the top flight on a storm-tossed and barnstorming afternoon at Easter Road three years ago.
Anyone fancy a bet on the forward, on loan from Norwich to Dundee United, being the guy whose firepower condemns his old club to relegation over the two-game final starting at Tannadice tonight?
The 29-year-old insists he sees definite similarities between this United side and the Hamilton one who shook, rattled and then rolled Hibs in such a devastating manner, recovering from a 2-0 home loss to earn an aggregate draw with a brilliant away performance — and then finishing the job on penalties.
And, what’s more, he thinks the current Accies team are bound to be feeling just as jittery as the Hibees were back in 2014.
‘Everyone has been talking about it,’ said Andreu of his past associations with Hamilton.
‘It is ironic but it’s just one of those things that happens in football.
‘They have changed a lot of players since then — six or seven — and the coach.
‘All in all, though, I still know a lot of their guys. I was happy for them that they won on Saturday. But I hope we are going to win this final.
‘I have had good times there. I played there, did well and have always been treated very well. The people and the fans have always been great to me.
‘I honestly hoped they would win well against Dundee to avoid relegation and I was happy for them.
‘But this is business now and I will be trying to beat them.
‘I think if we score first then we can make them feel a bit unsure about themselves.
‘I think it is a big advantage in two-legged ties to go ahead because you can put pressure on them. We have to be on it from the very start of the first game.
‘The thing I can feel here that reminds me of that time is the desire to get promoted.
‘I felt that when I was at Hamilton and I feel that now with this club.
‘All the players want it so much and I think that is a similarity between the two sides. And yes, I know that a Championship side can get promoted this way.
‘We proved with Hamilton three years ago that we could be better than the second-bottom team.
‘Recently, it hasn’t been the case. It depends. The main factor is to be good on the day. If we are good on Thursday and Sunday, we are going to be promoted.
‘If we do not perform, we are not. It’s a case of being really good on the day and trying to push your luck.’
Andreu, who was close to going on loan back to Hamilton before settling on United, has hit the net 22 times in a season of rediscovery and revival.
He has not scored since late April, however, prompting manager Ray McKinnon to tease him about being ‘due’ at least one over the next two games.
‘It’s true,’ said the forward with a grin. ‘The play-offs are always a great feeling because you want to play at your best. I’d love to score and help get the team promoted.’
Despite his proven ability from the spot, Andreu would like to avoid penalties this time around. Even for a player who claimed not to have been nervous strolling forward to take Hamilton’s first in that incredible shoot-out three seasons ago, there is an aversion to the process.
That does not mean he is not occasionally wistful about a spectacular day’s work by a team of underdogs, admitting: ‘It is always there in your head and it was a good moment.
‘It was one of the best feelings of my career. It will stay in my memory and I will always appreciate everything about the club.
‘Now, it is all different because I am on the other side and I will be playing for my team, United.’
Asked if Hamilton would be the last club he would wish to relegate, Andreu shrugged and declared: ‘It’s football. You can’t really stay in the past.
‘I’m a United player now. I was promoted with Hamilton and there is an attachment but you have to get over it and give your best. I’m hoping to be promoted.’