REID DEMANDS A SPARKLING SHOW IN DERBY CLASH

Mar 1 2007

SATURDAY’S Lanarkshire derby might be more important to Airdrie United, but Hamilton boss Billy Reid Is determined to heap more misery on relegation-haunted Diamonds.

Reid admitted he’s glad his young side isn’t involved in what could be an almighty dog-fight between Airdrie, Queen of the South and Ross County to avoid relegation and play-off places.

And the New Douglas Park gaffer wants three points from each of Hamilton’s 10 remaining games, as they scrap it out at the top end of the First Division table.

He said: “It’s probably a bigger game for them than it is for us, but I want to win every game, and I’ve got a group of players who try to do that.

“We want to finish as high up in the First Division as we can, but we’re just hoping to get a bit of consistency in team selection.

“We’ve won three of our last five games and go into Saturday’s match having just won against Dundee – we’re confident but aware that we’re up against a side that is fighting for its life.

“Our aim was to make sure that we weren’t involved in the dog-fight down there, which involves a lot of big teams – Queen of the South aren’t out of the woods by any manner of means, Ross County have been pulled into it, and Airdrie are second-bottom.

“It’s not nice when you’re in it, and we were just happy to pull away from that a bit.

“The last thing I needed, as the manager of this club, was to take a young team like this into a relegation battle.

“I’ve been there before as a player and it’s not nice, it’s difficult, but thankfully we don’t need to worry about that.”

Reid admitted he’s looking to balance the scales when Kenny Black’s side visit New Douglas Park, and said: “Airdrie beat us the last time at their place; I thought we deserved something from the game but didn’t get it, so we’re looking to put that right.

“It’s going to be a passionate game and it’s good to go into it with a win under our belts.

“One thing I think we do is try and pass the ball. We’ve got a lot of good football players here and if we move the ball quickly I think we’re a match for anybody in this league.

“I don’t think anybody comes here and outplays us, to be honest, and if we do the right things defensively then we’ll do well.

“It’s been a wee trait that we’ve lost cheap goals at times this season, but the players are maturing.”

Reid was delighted in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Dundee – courtesy of a first-half David Elebert header – particularly because he feels Accies have played better and LOST this season.

He added: “I told the players at half-time that I was over the moon, because we hadn’t played as well as we could but came in with a 1-0 lead, and that was important.

“I don’t think Dundee had a worthy shot on goal in the whole 90 minutes and if we took a bit of care, and got some luck at the start of the second half, I think we could have won the game more comfortably.

“We stopped Dundee playing for large periods of the game, and I think it was important that we did that.

“The clean sheet was important to me and I’ve said it all along; although it might be dour for the fans sometimes, I will take 1-0 every day of the week, if we can get into that habit.

“We do play good football and I thought in the second half we started to knock the ball about well.

“We’re joint-third in the league with a game in hand, we have a team of youngsters, and we’ve had to put up with a lot of injury problems as well, so I’ve got to be happy.”

Reid praised on-loan goalkeeper Sean Murdoch on his debut, having signed until the end of the season from Dunfermline.

He said: “It got nervy, we went 4-4-2 to stop ourselves from being pinned back, but Sean Murdoch, the goalkeeper, exuded confidence throughout our team.

“Sean didn’t have a save to make, but he took a lot of pressure off defenders, made the right decisions, and that’s good goalkeeping for me.

“He’s young, he’s a big lad with presence, and it’s great when you’ve got somebody who is good at talking to defenders and whose starting position is really good.

“It’s a blow for Raymond Jellema, who has played 20 games this season, but ‘Jelly’ is a decent young goalkeeper and will get his chance again.

“I think Raymond’s confidence is down a bit just now, but that’s not surprising – he’s a young goalie and there is a lot of responsibility on him every week to win games for us.

“He’s maybe not ready to take that on all the time, but he’s been man-of-the-match in some of our games this season, so he will get his chance again.”

Hamilton played a bounce game against a strong Rangers side at Murray Park yesterday (Wednesday), and hoped to give a run-out to midfielder Jamie McClen ahead of Saturday’s derby clash.

Captain Alex Neil is three disciplinary points away from suspension.

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