Stalemate left Rice cold but now he’s looking to turn up the heat on Celtic
Brian Rice hailed his Accies battlers for grinding out a point at sub-zero Livingston
Then he set his sights on pulling off the shock of the season at white-hot Parkhead on Wednesday.
The Hamilton boss admitted the Almondvale stalemate in front of just 1076 fans wasn’t easy on the eye.
But within minutes of the final whistle he was already looking forward to an eye-opening result.
Rice said: “We go to Celtic Park on Wednesday night and we know how difficult that is going to be.
“When you have courage and when you have determination and a wee bit of organisation you just never
know. But we are attempting to do something Lazio haven’t done and Rennes haven’t done and no other team in Scotland has done. “We all know the story of David and Goliath so you have just got to believe.
“If things go your way and you get the rub of the green or someone does something special then you can get something out of the game.
“But I am del ighted with the endeavour shown by the boys today.
“We are a point better off than what we were this morning. I don’t think it is two points dropped, I think it is one point gained.
“Whatever you get from Livingston, you have to work really hard for it.
“That is one thing my boys will do – they will always work really hard.”
There certainly wasn’t anything special about this game and Livi, who created the better of the few chances, will be cursing blowing the chance to win their first match in eight.
Gary Holt’s team began to turn the screw after a tepid opening 10 minutes and it took a good save from Luke Southwood to deny Scott Pittman after Sam Stubbs’ slip allowed Lyndon Dykes to set him up.
The home side came even closer in 16 minutes when Jon Guthrie’s header from Steve Lawson’s free-kick hit the base of Southwood’s post.
The keeper reacted quickly to bat away the rebound as it flew across the face of his goal – a major let- off amid claims from the Livi players the ball had crossed the line.
Hamilton’s continual use of the long ball to hit their big men up front – Marios Ogkmpoe and George Oakley – wasn’t working.
They had another escape in 40 minutes when Aaron Taylor-Sinclair’s
shot from the edge of the box smashed off grounded skipper Marvin Bartley on the six-yard line.
The half ended with Accies’ Oakley smashing wide his side’s first real effort on goal.
Injury saw the influential Bartley replaced at the break but it didn’t alter the flow of traffic, which continued in the direction of Southwood, who did well to save a deflected Robbie Crawford shot in the 48th minute.
Livi had loud appeals for a penalty waved aside as Stubbs cleared Dykes’ header off the line. It looked like the correct decision from Willie Collum.
Accies finally offered something going forward in the 74th minute when Lewis Smith ran at Guthrie and found a yard of space but his fierce, right-foot shot from the edge of the box flew just over.
That was the last real chance and the final whistle was an act of mercy to those in the stands – if not to Livi gaffer Holt who was frustrated at his side’s lack of firepower.
He said: “You’ve got to earn the right to win the game, be proactive and create chances.
“I thought we were in the ascendancy to try to win the game and had a lot of play in the second half but we needed to be a wee bit braver.
“We knew Hamilton would get a lot of men behind the ball and it might have taken someone shooting from distance and even getting a def lection but we didn’t take it on enough. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score.
“We had right good go, although we got caught on the counter a couple of times, but it’s a clean sheet and I can’t fault the lads for what they gave me.”
Holt refused to be drawn too much on the Guthrie header despite joking: “I’m saying it’s a goal all day long!
“We don’t have VAR or goal-line technology so it’s part and parcel of the game and the referee has made the decision. We don’t cry over it.
“It’s the same in the second half when I thought there was a handball that could have been a penalty but we don’t complain about it.”