Accies newboy reckons team can only get better

Aug 18 2011 By Andy McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

MATT Paterson scored his first goal and earned a penalty during Saturday’s 5-1 demolition of Ross County, then told boss Billy Reid he’s the man to fire Accies to First Division glory.

The 21-year-old striker has made quite an impact since making his debut in Tuesday’s 1-0 Ramsdens Cup second-round win over Partick Thistle, and was a constant menace that Derek Adams’s County struggled to cope with at the weekend.

Ominously for Hamilton’s First Division rivals Paterson reckons he and the team can only get better as he settles into his new role, having joined on loan from Southend United until January.

Paterson said: "It was a great win for the boys, great for us to get our first win at home, and it’s nice for me to open my account.

"Billy has said he’s looking for somebody to come in and score the goals and I’m confident I’m the man to do that. If the lads keep creating chances for me hopefully I can put a few more away.

"Saturday’s win was great for the whole team; Dougie Imrie and Ali Crawford were giving me neat little passes to run at the defence, and Dougie has ended up with four assists while Ali popped up on the score- sheet, so that is fantastic.

"I’m sure other teams will take a look around and see this as a great win, but we’ve got to keep focused and concentrate on next week now.

"We’ve got Partick Thistle away on Saturday before we’ve got Ross County back here in the Communities Cup second round on Tuesday.

"We look forward to those games and hopefully there will be a couple more wins. That’s four out of four for us so far, which is fantastic, but hopefully we can make it five in our next game."

While Paterson is pleased at how he has quickly settled into the team he admits it was hard going at first.

However, the former Southampton hit- man says he could be interested in extending his stay at Hamilton should it continue to work well for both parties.

He said: "I’ve been looking after myself over the summer but coming into the game straight away on Tuesday was difficult because I didn’t know the lads.

"But on Saturday I was a lot more comfortable and a lot more confident, so I got some belief from that.

"I’m here on loan until January and we’ve got to see what happens in the coming months. If the situation is still the same, I’m happy and everyone else is happy, then we’ll have to speak again."