Crunch time for Accies in bid for SPL survival

Mar 4 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

ALEX Neil this week told his Hamilton team-mates they can secure their SPL survival this month.

Accies have five fixtures in March, four of them at home against Aberdeen, St Mirren, Falkirk and St Johnstone on successive Saturdays, with a midweek trip to Kilmarnock on March 24.

It’s make or break time, and Neil insists Accies will deserve to drop back into the First Division if they don’t make the most of their fixtures this month.

He said: “In March we’ve got five games, four of them are at home and they’re all against teams around us in the league.

“Looking at the run-in, I think we’ve probably got the best fixtures and we play all of the teams about us, really, from now until the end of the season. If we want to stay up we’ve got to win those games.

“It’s certainly in our own hands and if we don’t win those games we probably deserve to go down.”

Neil reckons Hamilton were unfortunate to take only a point from Saturday’s 0-0 draw against St Mirren, but said his side needs to start making their own luck.

He said: “It was disappointing, considering that I thought we were the better side.

“Based on chances that we had, I thought we should have put at least one of them away and taken the three points, but we didn’t.

“We tried our best but it just seems to be the story just now that we can’t put the ball in the net.

“I think our general play has been decent but the problem we’ve got is scoring, and that’s the difference between the teams at the top and the bottom of the league.

“It’s going to have to turn for us. We’re going to have to start making our own luck and putting the ball into the net if we want to start climbing the league.

“It’s down to all of us to pitch in and try to get a goal.”

Neil admitted Saturday’s Paisley tussle wasn’t a thriller, but was just glad to be involved again after weeks on the sidelines.

He said: “I think it was quite a scrappy game and neither team wanted to give anything away, so it wasn’t a great spectacle.

“I’m pleased to be back and I’m just hoping that I can keep myself fit for the rest of the season.”

That crucial March run starts when Aberdeen visit New Douglas Park on Saturday, and Neil hopes Accies can continue their impressive record against the Dons of three wins from five league encounters.

While Saturday’s game might come too early for him, striker Mickael Antoine-Curier’s return to training has been a major boost for Hamilton and Neil hopes to take that into the forthcoming games.

He said: “We tend to get close against Aberdeen for whatever reason so hopefully we can do it again on Saturday.

“It should be an interesting game. We’re obviously struggling to score just now but they’re not high on confidence either because they haven’t been playing well, so hopefully we can get the three points.

“We’ve got players coming back too and it’s good timing. It’s great to have Mickael back at this stage of the season – he’s our top scorer this season and we’ve been severely lacking in goals.

“Hopefully big Mickael can come back, get a couple of goals, and pull us away from the bottom of the league.”