ACCIES SHOW FIGHTING SPIRIT

Raith Rovers 4 Hamilton 4

HAMILTON ACCIES have become famed for their never-say-die attitude in defying expectations in the Premiership — and they displayed that attitude in abundance to seal a sensational four-goal comeback in their Championship opener against Raith Rovers.

The home side surged into a 4-0 lead with a Lewis Vaughan double and strikes from new signings Dario Zanatta and Aidan Connolly. With just 25 minutes remaining, they should have been untouchable.

But a double from Rovers old boy Kieran MacDonald either side of a goal from substitute Andy Ryan set up a grandstand finish and Accies captain Shaun Want snatched a stunning leveller in the second minute of injury-time.

‘We spoke about never, ever, ever giving up, ever — just keep going,’ said Hamilton boss Brian Rice.

‘You just need a wee bit of luck, a wee bit of belief and you see the difference when we get our quality players on the pitch.

‘Fair play to (Scott) McMann, Ryan and (David) Templeton — they have only trained for a week. They’ve had no pre-season and not had any game time, whatsoever.

‘For them to come off the bench gives us that quality and that was the difference.’

Rovers manager John McGlynn said simply: ‘I think that was an amazing game of football.’