Outbattled County crash yet again as Accies seize spoils
PERHAPS if the Ross County players had shown greater endeavour to match their rivals’ spirited performance, Stuart Kettlewell would still be in a job.
Instead, the Staggies went like sheep to the slaughter despite dominating the bulk of possession and producing twice as many efforts on goal.
Hamilton boss Brian Rice and his players don’t make any pretence about being exponents of the ‘beautiful game’.
When the going gets tough, they roll their sleeves up and win
‘ugly’ when the chips are down, something the opposition appears incapable of doing.
None of the County players were willing to appear for a postmatch interview to explain this latest unacceptable performance — or offer a defence of the outgoing manager.
But for anyone to suggest that Kettlewell alone is to blame for the club now finding itself four points adrift of their nearest relegation rivals is nonsense.
With a record of eight defeats in their last 10 matches, the County players already have the haunted look of condemned men with half the season still ahead of them.
Hamilton, on the other hand, have taken seven points from a possible 12 to boost their survival prospects.
Goals in each half sealed County and Kettlewell’s fate in what was a typical bottom-of-the-table showdown watched by 300 fans.
Hamilton fully deserved their three points after allowing their opponents to dominate the ball in the knowledge that they had enough steel to combat County’s advances.
The hosts began brightly enough and veteran Michael Gardyne chased a long through ball early on before managing to get off a shot, while Ross Stewart and Billy Mckay also threatened to open up the defence. But it was Ross Callachan who showed how it should be done after 22 minutes when he latched on to a delivery from David Moyo and beat Ross Laidlaw with a shot from just outside the box.
Even though County enjoyed a further spell of dominance early in the second period when Gardyne, Stewart and Oli Shaw were prominent, Hamilton were relatively untroubled.
And when Scott Martin displayed the sort of tenacity missing in the majority of the home side’s players to shake off his pursuers and shoot wide of Laidlaw in the 62nd minute, it was game, set and match to Accies.
With just three Premiership wins from 18 matches — the last of them a 1-0 away victory against St Johnstone on September 19 — County are displaying relegation form.
Hamilton, meanwhile, look set to again confound their critics with their never-say-die approach to surviving in the top flight.
Reflecting on the magnitude of this win, Rice said: ‘It’s a fantastic result and I thought a really good, strong performance — typical Hamilton.
‘It was a Hamilton-like display which I asked for. It was about us getting back to being ugly, aggressive and in their faces and keeping a clean sheet.
‘We knew what was coming but I also felt we would get chances at the other end, and so it proved.’