Beuzelin is not holding youngster responsible for failure to hang on
HAMILTON coach Guillaume Beuzelin refused to blame defender Jamie Hamilton after the teenager’s third red card of the season effectively denied the club a precious — and rare — victory at Tynecastle.
A dream start to yesterday’s Premiership match saw Accies race into a two-goal lead within 16 minutes and set up the prospect of the club’s first win in Gorgie since 1977.
Midway through the first half, the visitors were forced into a reshuffle when Hamilton was ordered off by referee Kevin Clancy for a handball that denied Liam Boyce a run on goal.
Replays showed that the ball had struck Hamilton’s chest before moving on to his arm, yet assistant referee Frank Connor adjudged the act to have been worthy of a foul and therefore the automatic red.
Down to 10 men, Accies retreated and were pegged back to 2-2.
‘It’s a ball over the top, which Jamie anticipated, and he is first to the ball, as a good centre-half should be,’ explained Beuzelin. ‘It’s hard to call after that but the ref had to make a call and I can’t complain about the red card.’
Beuzelin admits the youngster is learning harsh lessons in his first full season of first-team football. Yet having also seen red against Motherwell and Celtic, the former Hibernian midfielder has backed the centre-back to go to the very top.
‘Jamie’s red cards are not a concern,’ added Beuzelin. ‘He’s 17 years old and centre-half is the worst position for a young player to be thrown into, apart from goalkeeper. We think he is good enough to produce at this level. It has been tough for him but there is no better way for him to learn his job.
‘He shows us day-in, day-out in training he will be a big player for this club — and for Scotland.’
Although the point maintained the narrow gap between Accies and Hearts at the bottom, Beuzelin was miffed that Accies could not hold on for the win. He added: ‘I think we did enough to take all three points.
‘We were hanging on, but in the end there’s a lack of concentration and we’re punished for it.
‘We worked so hard to get three points. We’ll take one, but I think we should have won the game.
‘If you’d have offered me a point before the game I’d have said no. We came here to take three points.
‘It was a massive opportunity to make the gap bigger. Hearts are a big club, but they are where they are, so we wanted to come here and win.’