Neil puts future on back burner as he pledges to save Accies

Mar 24 2011 By Andy McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

Hamilton Accies 0 - 0 St Johnstone

HAMILTON Accies captain Alex Neil is happy to put his own contract talk on the back burner as he tries to keep his side in the SPL.

The midfielder’s contract is up in the summer but he isn’t concerned about personal matters as he addresses the immediate problem of clawing back the six- point deficit between Accies and St Mirren – with Hamilton travelling to Paisley for a potential do-or-die clash in Paisley next Saturday, April 2.

Neil, who made his first start of the season in the goalless draw against St Johnstone, said:

"Being out of contract was a concern because of the hip injury, especially if I hadn’t played any games this season – people would have looked on that as a year and a half out.

"But I’ve always enjoyed being at New Douglas Park.

"I’ve been at Accies for six years now, and I don’t think anybody could say I don’t give everything I’ve got for the club in every game.

"My main concern is to try and keep us in the Premier League and then we’ll see where we go after that.

"We know exactly what we need to do in a fortnight’s time. We’ve got to go and beat St Mirren, it’s that simple, and everybody at the club is purely focused on winning.

"We’ll do our best but if it doesn’t happen it certainly won’t be for the lack of effort."

Neil was disappointed not to take full points against St Johnstone, but was pleased with the 83 minutes he got under his belt before being replaced by Mark Carrington.

He said: "We just didn’t manage to take a few chances that we created in the second half, which was disappointing, but just to be playing again was great.

"I tired probably 15 minutes before I came off but I wanted to try and play for as long as I could, try to force the issue and see if we could get the winning goal, but it just wasn’t to be.

"We’re disappointed because we knew we needed to try and win the game but we had pushed players up the park and they could have nicked it in the last 10 minutes.

"You’ve got to find a happy medium where you’re going for the game but you’ve got to make sure you keep a clean sheet – and I think that’s only our third or fourth of the season."

A dull first half didn’t really provide many moments of genuine interest, but Saints were first to threaten seriously in 24 minutes when Neil was penalised for handball on the edge of the box and Danny Grainger sent the free-kick just past the right post with Tomas Cerny scrambling.

Other than Mark McLaughlin sending a couple of headers past things weren’t really happening for Accies, but Jim McAlister tried to seize the initiative as he picked up possession on the right and ran up the outside of the box before sending a curling effort over.

But that served to inspire Accies and they finished the half strongly, with Ali Crawford taking possession back from Neil from a well-defended corner before driving into the box from the right and firing the ball towards the far post corner, only to see Peter Enckelman deny him with a super save in 43 minutes.

Crawford was in the mood and after evading a couple of desperate lunges the midfielder raced down the left flank before finding Flavio Paixao, but the Portuguese winger’s shot produced another fine save from Enckelman as he pushed the ball to safety just on the stroke of half-time.

The second half struggled to get into gear but Accies boss Billy Reid nearly turned the tide in his side’s favour when he threw on striker Tom Elliot for McAlister in 57 minutes.

Inside 30 seconds the tall English striker had knocked down a long-range Neil free-kick to Mickael Antoine-Curier, who should have done better than blast past the right post.

Elliot tried his luck in 61 minutes but stabbed his effort high and wide when he had more time to consider his options.

Referee Bobby Madden made some perplexing decisions on the afternoon and one of these arrived in 70 minutes when Dave MacKay desperately felled Elliot on the edge of the box with a flying elbow to the head – although it resulted in a free-kick there was no card shown for what was dangerous play.

Paixao stepped up and drilled a low free-kick under the wall, but Enckelman gathered well.

Hamilton had another chance three minutes later when Simon Mensing’s lay-off found Jon Routledge on the left, who should have done better than slice wildly past the right post.

Mensing was in action at the other end in 74 minutes as he headed a Peter MacDonald cross away from the lurking Collin Samuel, preventing a certain goal.

Saints striker MacDonald nearly won it for the visitors late on when he first sent a low effort just past the right with Cerny beaten, then provided an excellent cut-back for Chris Millar, who swept his shot past the left.

Hamilton replied with a sweeping move down the right but midfielder Gary McDonald found his route blocked by a great saving tackle by Alan Maybury.

Saints sub Cleveland Taylor had the last chances of the match as he saw a low effort taken well by Cerny before sending a similar effort past the left post.

The last moment of drama came a minute into stoppage time when a late lunge on Millar by Mensing saw the midfielder shown a straight red card.

Thanks to Hearts’ last-gasp 3- 2 home win over St Mirren, Accies reduced the deficit to six points at the foot of the SPL, but must take three points from Paisley a week on Saturday to give themselves a realistic fighting chance of avoiding relegation.

HAMILTON: Cerny, McLaughlin, Elebert, Mensing, Neil (Carrington, 83), Routledge, McDonald, Crawford, F. Paixao, Antoine-Curier, McAlister (Elliot, 57). Subs (not used): Murdoch, Skelton, Gillespie, Hopkirk, Hassselbaink. Sent off: Mensing. Booked: Neil, McLaughlin.

ST JOHNSTONE: Enckelman, Maybury, Grainger, Anderson, Mackay, Millar, Davidson, Craig (Gartland, 90), Invincibile, Samuel (Taylor, 76), May (MacDonald, 46). Subs (not used): Smith, Jackson, Sullivan, Caddis.

Referee: Bobby Madden.

Attendance: 2111.

Advertiser Man of the Match: Alex Neil – provided a lot of stability and gave his all, but the returning captain just shaded it over young livewire Ali Crawford.