Accies boss believes his side can beat Motherwell

Oct 28 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON boss Billy Reid is confident that his side can emerge with a win from Saturday’s derby against Motherwell – but only if they stop conceding cheap goals.

Accies head for Fir Park on the back of a run that has seen them take just two points from their last four games.

Reid knows that has mostly been down to his side making silly defensive errors and wants their slackness to stop when they head to North Lanarkshire.

He said: “I feel as though if we perform as we can and stop giving away early Christmas presents then we can win the game.

“We’re more than capable of winning; people say we’re in a false position in the Premier League but I’m not going to say that – we should have more points on the board but we don’t, and it’s up to us to address that.”

Reid and assistant Andy Millen took in Tuesday’s Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final between Motherwell and Dundee United at Fir Park – Accies’ next two opponents – as the hosts edged the Tannadice side 1-0 thanks to a late goal by Alan Gow.

He said: “Motherwell won it near the end when it looked to be heading for extra-time, and that showed that they can grind out results.

“They’ve done well this season, their results speak for themselves and they’ve added the striker Nick Blackman, who looks a real handful at times.”

Reid was disappointed with Saturday’s 2-1 New Douglas Park defeat against St Johnstone, and felt his side deserved more from the game.

He said: “It was a battle, we didn’t deal with that in the first half and didn’t play as well as we can.

“I thought we did enough in the second half to get a point but we didn’t get it and that’s the way it has been going for us.

“Sometimes you need to take your medicine in football – it’s not all bright lights and fancy football – and the problem is that we’re not defending well enough in our box.

“We’re disappointed with the foul that led to their winner because David Buchanan got the ball, but the linesman has given it and we’ve lost the game when I thought we deserved at least a point.”

Reid added: “The frustrating thing is that if there was so much wrong with us, we’d say we’re just not good enough at the moment, but that’s definitely not the case.

“We need to be more street-wise and make sure that we take something from games when we’re on top.”

Accies go into the game with no new injury worries and hope to add captain Alex Neil and defender David Elebert to their derby day squad.

That was worst of the season – Flavio Paixao: Hamilton v St Johnstone match report – Page 119.