Pressure pays off for Dundee
HAMILTON led for three quarters of this match but, reduced to nine men, they lost out at the death and defeat leaves them above Partick Thistle in the relegation play-off position only on goal difference.
They were entitled to feel disappointed at the timing of this particular setback but there was no question that Dundee deserved to take all three points.
After falling behind early on, the visitors dominated for most of the game, particularly late on when they found more space to play in due to their numerical advantage. Their perseverance was rewarded and there can be few arguments that they were the better team on the day.
It was a performance which contained both grit and polish, and one which delighted Dens Park manager Neil McCann.
‘It was a brilliant finish from us and I thought we were relentless in that search for a winner,’ he said. ‘We dominated but we gave away a poor goal, although Mark (O’Hara) couldn’t do anything about it.
‘David Templeton’s free-kick came off the post and I turned to (assistant manager) Graham Gartland and said: “That’s the luck we haven’t had against Hamilton”.
‘From then there was only going to be one winner. It might have taken us to the 98th minute but they tried to waste time so many times and, ironically, we score at the death.’
It was the introduction of Scott Allan on the hour mark which helped turn the tide for McCann’s men. The midfielder, on loan from Celtic, brought a calmness and his team-mates grew in confidence whenever he had possession.
Accies took the lead 90 seconds after kick-off but there was a huge slice of luck attached to the goal. Celtic target Jack Hendry was harshly penalised for a foul on Antonio Rojano 30 yards out, when it looked as though the striker was backing into the defender.
Danny Redmond floated in the free-kick to the far post, Lewis Ferguson headed it back across goal and O’Hara shanked his attempted clearance and sent the ball spinning behind the helpless Elliot Parish.
The visitors came close to an equaliser in the 20th minute when a superb pass from Glen Kamara released Paul McGowan on the left. The midfielder’s shot would have ended up in the bottom lefthand corner of the net but home stopper Gary Woods managed to parry and Alex Gogic cleared.
It was yet another frustrating moment for McCann, who appeared to be in a constant state of agitation, arguing with the referee’s assistant, the fourth official and his own players. And that was only the first 20 minutes.
Hamilton’s Redmond collected the first yellow card of the contest for a crude challenge on McGowan as the Dark Blues poured forward in search of an equaliser. Ferguson joined him for a professional foul on Kevin Holt.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a relegation battle, this was a scrappy, stop-start affair, not helped by over-fussy refereeing by Kevin Clancy.
O’Hara’s miserable afternoon continued when he was booked for a clumsy challenge on substitute Darren Lyon and, from the resulting free-kick, Templeton’s shot came back off the inside of Parish’s right-hand post.
Holt then saw yellow for bringing down Rojano and the Argentine was similarly punished for a revenge foul on the full-back.
Sofien Moussa, later, had the ball in the net from AJ Leitch-Smith’s through ball but the offside flag had been raised before the striker got his shot away.
Accies’ task was made harder in the 74th minute when Clancy adjudged that Templeton’s attempt to win the ball from Allan was worthy of a second yellow card. His dismissal provided Dundee with the lift they were needing and, following a short corner, Allan’s cross was bundled home by fellow substitute Matthew Henvey for his first senior goal. Henvey was then inches away from grabbing the winner, just failing to make contact with Moussa’s driven cross and the latter ought to have done better than head Allan’s inviting delivery straight at Woods from point-blank range.
At the other end, Parish had to scramble to keep out Holt’s mistimed header from Dougie Imrie’s free-kick.
Hamilton’s woes continued when Darian MacKinnon had to hobble off injured, leaving them at a further disadvantage.
Accies held out until the eighth and final minute of stoppage time when Dundee grabbed the winner they had been threatening when Leitch-Smith stuck out a leg to deflect Kamara’s shot beyond Woods, who was left helpless by the change of direction.
Hamilton boss Martin Canning blamed Templeton after the striker’s sending-off and was also unhappy about the amount of time added on.
‘We scored early and came close again with Temps’ free-kick. If that had gone in, it would have been game over,’ he said.
‘But then Temps does something ridiculously stupid. I talk to the boys all week about decisionmaking and that decision he made has cost us the game. He has apologised to the boys and we all need to get on with it.’