Top Pog Donati too good for us
St Mirren boss Alex Rae claimed his players made Accies debutant Massimo Donati look like France’s £100million man Paul Pogba.
The former Celtic midfielder put in a superb Hamilton performance, rounding off the scoring after goals from Ali Crawford and Dougie Imrie.
And disgruntled Rae said: “That was a step up in class for us and if you don’t track runners at any level you get picked off. We got picked off in the middle of the park.
“We’ll go through the analysis on Monday morning and if the players don’t start learning from that, they’ll be stuck in the Championship for the whole of their careers.
“It’s early doors but it looked like they were a yard sharper. We were okay at times going forward but it’s the dirty side of the game we need to work on – like tracking back runners.
“It’s a good learning curve from the middle of the park, for young Stevie Mallan, up against Donati. He looked like a superstar in there. He could go for £100m, never mind Pogba. That’s how good he looked at times.”
Accies took the lead in the 13th minute. Dougie Imrie picked out the overlapping Grant Gillespie on the right and his first touch picked out Crawford, who stabbed home from close range.
The Buddies missed a great chance to level after 26 minutes. David Clarkson had a free header from Lewis Morgan’s left-wing cross but he sent his effort past the post.
St Mirren’s Mallan then saw his curl ing attempt held by Remi Matthews. And just before the break, Alex D’Acol was denied a goal by Jamie Langfield’s outstretched boot.
Imrie doubled the home side’s lead a minute later, volleying home from the edge of the box, just moments after he had been denied by Callum Gallagher’s last-ditch tackle.
The away side went close to pulling one back but Morgan’s powerful shot was blocked before Tom Walsh’s effort was deflected over the bar.
Donati made the game safe in 70 minutes, beautifully directing a low volley from 25 yards into the corner of the net.
Accies boss Martin Canning said: “Massimo was excellent in his first game and his goal just topped it off.
“He had a positive impact on the team because we played through him. We had good performances all over the pitch out there and I feel the season has now started for us.”
Hamilton signed Greek defender Georgios Sarris at half- time and Canning added: “We took a look at him last year but he went to Turkey. He’s a big, aggressive centre-back.”