I've signed a new deal because i believe that Accies are on the way up!

Nov 23 2006 By Andy McGilvray

DAVE McEwan didn’t take long to commit his long-term future to Hamilton Accies ... because he feels the club are heading for the top.

The 24-year-old goalkeeper put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half year contract extension last Friday. The deal will keep him at New Douglas Park until the end of season 2008/09.

McEwan wants a tilt at the SPL and feels he’s part of a squad that has been designed to do just that.

He said: “I spoke to the chairman Ronnie MacDonald and decided straight away that I was going to sign because I was happy with what was offered.

“It’s ideal for me and covers the rest of this season and the next two after that.

“With so many others signing extensions, everything has been sorted out for next season already and it’s good to get players tied up now rather than wait until January.

“Hopefully, we won’t get as many injuries as we did last season and can have a real crack at promotion either this term or the next one.

“We’ve done really well this season so far though, so who knows?”

After spending three months on the sidelines with a knee injury, McEwan made his top-team comeback in the 3-1 defeat at Partick Thistle, after Raymond Jellema was injured in an early collision with Adam Strachan that led to the first of two penalty awards for the Jags.

McEwan was disappointed in that result but hopes to be part of a side which makes amends when Ross County visit Hamilton on Saturday.

“I’m not 100 per cent. fit,” McEwan said, “but I’ll have trained all week and will see what happens on Saturday.

“Raymond Jellema has come in and done really well but his eye was all swollen up after taking a knock on Saturday.

“If that heals up in time he might get the nod, so we’ll need to see what manager Billy Reid says.”

He added: “We watched a video of the Partick Thistle game during the week and we’re really disappointed to have lost. It was through bad errors on our part because they didn’t really create much.

“It was a bad day all round but we will be working hard to rectify that against Ross County.

“It will be hard, because they’ve just won the Challenge Cup and will be on a high. We’ll need to combat that but hopefully we’ll get the win.

“Every game in this league is a hard one — which we all know by now — but it’s important to win your home matches.”