Gilhaney hails Hamilton's winning mentality

Apr 25 2008 By Andy McGilvray

MARK Gilhaney realised Hamilton's winning mentality following a dressing-room heart-to-heart earlier in the season.

The New Douglas Park club had gone through a sticky spell in December, but spoke about how much winning the title would mean to every one of them.

And that kick-started a run which resulted in last Saturday's championship win.

The 23-year-old winger said: "You could see from everybody's reaction that it meant the world to us.

"We always knew we had it in us to win the league.

"We had a great start, which pushed us on, and then we had a wee sticky spell in December.

"But in the last few months the boys have been talking about how much it would mean to ourselves, the gaffer and the fans, so we just went out there and got the results - it's brilliant."

Delighted Gilhaney says Hamilton have nothing to prove in Saturday's final-day clash with second-placed Dundee at Dens Park.

He said: "We've proved that we're the best team in the league and nobody can take that away from us.

"The game on Saturday is a bit irrelevant, and I don't know what the manager will do for that, but it's just brilliant to have finally won it.

"Dundee had been on our tails for the whole season, so fair play to them - they're a good side, but at the end of the day we were a better team."

Mark added: "It’s a great feeling to have won the league.

"It’s been a long, hard season, and on the day we were brilliant, but I think we’ve thoroughly deserved it over the season anyway."

Having finished empty-handed with Clyde on a few occasions, Gilhaney is just delighted to have finally claimed a winner'smedal - and proved critics wrong.

He said: "I finished second a few times with Clyde, so to have finally done it means the world to me.

"People have slagged us off a bit for our home record, saying it was only because of our pitch, but we’ve got the best away record in the league, and that proves we’re a decent side.

"The reaction from the fans on Saturday was brilliant, everybody in there loved it, and it's a great feeling.

"Hopefully now we can try and go up and prove ourselves in the SPL."