Football: Buchanan eager to help Accies after Dons defeat

Aug 19 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

DAVID BUCHANAN is desperate to help Hamilton to a home win over Hearts on Saturday to prove that the new boys are up to the task.

Midfielder Buchanan (24), who was snapped up by boss Billy Reid following his release from Bury, had a debut to forget as Aberdeen dumped Accies 4-0 at Pittodrie last Saturday.

He made no excuses for the defeat and said it’s up to Hamilton to bounce back.

He said: “Everybody’s looking to put that right.

“Everyone knows it was a bad result on Saturday and to concede three penalties was very disappointing but the lads have come back into training and looked really sharp, and we’re looking now to get a positive reaction.

“It’s good to have a game so quickly after Saturday. When you lose a game, you don’t want to dwell on it too much, you just want the next game as soon as possible to try to get it out of your system.

“We want to bounce back as quickly as possible and it’s important to do that, especially since it’s our first home game of the season.

“If we could beat Hearts on Saturday, we’d be over the moon. They’re another big team in this league but it’s important that we win our home game.

“We know how important it is to do that and it doesn’t matter who comes to New Douglas Park – we’ve got to win - or at least take something from the game.”

Rochdale-born Buchanan was remarkably honest about his own performance on Saturday and feels disappointed that he didn’t grab a chance to impress boss Billy Reid.

He said: “The team that was put out on Saturday was more than good enough to compete against Aberdeen.

“We were obviously missing a few key players but that gave other people the opportunity to stake a claim in the manager’s thoughts so it was a disappointing result.

“I was happy to be involved in the game and get my first taste of football in the Premier League but I was disappointed with my own performance.

“I’m not a player who is going to stand there and say we lost 4-0 but I played well. If you lose like that, I don’t think any player can come off the pitch saying that they played well.”

He added: “It’s only the first game of the season but I’m looking to bed in quickly and have a good season.

“We lost but it’s up to us now to turn that into a positive on Saturday.

“Every one of our players – whoever is selected – will want to put things right.”