The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
High-energy Dons bury Hamilton in first-half blitz
Dons boss Derek McInnes praised his side for their pace and energy after a scintillating first-half display earned them victory at Pittodrie yesterday.
The hosts raced into a 3-0 lead in the opening 33 minutes, thanks to strikes from Simon Church, Niall McGinn and Kenny McLean and closed the game out to move within four points of Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic.
“It was a strong 90-minute performance,” McInnes said.
“In the first half we obviously got the goals, but the movement and speed we brought was difficult for Hamilton to contain.
“We’ve started a lot of games similarly but haven’t always managed to get the goals to match, so getting the second goal was very important to us, and the third goal knocked the stuffing from Hamilton.”
The Dons lost to Motherwell before the international break, and McInnes was delighted with the reaction to that result and hailed the impact of the likes of Jonny Hayes and McLean, who won their first caps.
“It was important the players showed they were still fighting,” he said.
“Nobody within our camp feels the season is a write-off. We’ve still got work to do, and we’ll finish where we deserve.
“The international break might have been good for us – Kenny and Jonny came bouncing in the door on Thursday after winning their first caps, and that gave everyone a lift.
“The ability of the players has never been in question, it’s just getting the best out of them.”
Hamilton player-manager Martin Canning was disappointed with the way his side capitulated.
He said: “I’m very angry with the first-half performance. We conceded two soft goals and we didn’t respond to it. We were far better in the second half. We were competing better, but by then the damage is done.” Attendance: 12,509
Aberdeen: Brown, Logan, Taylor (Considine 46), Reynolds, Shinnie, Hayes, Jack (Ross 85), Flood (Storie 78), McGinn, McLean, Church. Subs not used: Smith, Collin, McKenna, Wright.
Hamilton: McGovern, Gordon, Devlin, Garcia Tena, Kurakins, MacKinnon, Agustien (Redmond 39), Imrie (Kurtaj 81), Crawford, Docherty, Diaby (Brophy 66). Subs not used: D’Acol, Martin, Boyd, Want.
Referee: Kevin Clancy.