Stuart Elliott hopes to kick-start his career at Hamilton Accies

Jan 7 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

STUART ELLIOTT this week praised Hamilton boss Billy Reid for ending his Doncaster nightmare.

The former Motherwell winger moved to the Keepmoat Stadium from Hull City in 2008 but failed to nail down a first-team berth and was last week released from his contract.

Reid moved swiftly to snap up the 31-year-old and Elliott hopes to repay him by banging in the goals as soon as possible.

Belfast-born Elliott said: “I’m over the moon. It’s a great opportunity for me to get hungry for the game again and the last time I was in Lanarkshire, with Motherwell, I had a really good time.

“The fans took to me there and I hope I can get the same at Hamilton. I’ll certainly give 110 per cent and try to get goals.”

Having been a fans’ favourite at Hull City, Elliott is as bemused as anybody over his failure to impress at Doncaster.

He said: “I had six great seasons at Hull and was their top scorer in almost all of that time.

“But then I went to Doncaster and never really had a chance to show what I could do.

“It was a bit of a nightmare. I spoke to the manager many times but I just didn’t seem to fit in with what he wanted to do.

“I was able to settle my contract with them, I was happy to come back up to Scotland and I heard that Billy Reid was interested in me.

“Hopefully I can repay him for that, and I’m very grateful to him.

“He’s a good manager and is second-to-none at the moment in terms of his reputation and what he’s achieved. Billy’s a good guy and I hope I can join in with that success.”

An Active Nation Scottish Cup fourth- round clash against Rangers at New Douglas Park is next up for Hamilton - weather permitting - and Elliott hopes he can be involved.

He joked: “That’s a pretty small game but we might as well start at the bottom and work our way up!

“No, it’s a massive game and the fact that it’s Rangers in the Scottish Cup gives a bit of added spice. I hope I can be involved.

“I haven’t had too many competitive games in the first team lately but I got a bounce game against Alloa on Saturday, got a couple of goals, and I don’t feel too bad fitness-wise.

“It will take me a couple of games to get back up to full match fitness but hopefully I can get going right from the start and we’ll see where we go from there.”