Billy Reid sees red as Accies rue missed chances

Dec 1 2011 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON gaffer Billy Reid was disappointed with Saturday’s 3-2 defeat against Raith Rovers and felt his side deserved to take something from the game.

Defeat in Kirkcaldy sent Accies down to sixth in the First Division and Reid wants to see a marked improvement when Dundee visit New Douglas Park on Saturday.

He said: “If you don’t take your chances you maybe don’t win the game, but the pleasing thing is that we worked really hard.

“We were really disappointed with the performance against Livingston a couple of weeks ago, which was inept and not good enough, but that was totally different out there.

“That was a team who were fighting for Hamilton Accies, and I expect that. I thought we did enough to take something, but we lost the game and that’s all that matters.

“We created chances, but missed them at crucial times. Big Matt Paterson had a great game but he had two or three great chances and didn’t hit the target.

“Grant Anderson hit a screamer, the goalkeeper saved it and Matt’s rebound hit off his legs.

“Their first goal was a disaster for the goalkeeper, at the second one I thought Grant Gillespie was sleeping, and then the boy’s hit one from 20 yards into the bottom corner, so I was thinking it wasn’t going to be our day.

“We then got the penalty, which I thought we deserved because we had pinned them back for long spells, but we missed it.

“If we had scored at that point I think we were right back in the game, and Mark McLaughlin scored a screamer at the end, but there wasn’t enough time to score another goal.

“Sometimes in football you don’t get what you deserve, and I think that was the case.”

Reid was sent to the Stark’s Park main stand towards the end of the match, and will therefore sit out Saturday’s game.

But he said: “It’s at home and if we play as well as we did and get in people’s faces we’ll be fine, but the players know exactly where we are – we need to start picking up points and winning games.”

• Congratulations to Kate Hamilton, of Campbell Close, Hamilton, who has won a pair of tickets for Saturday’s match against Dundee at New Douglas Park, courtesy of league sponsor IRN-BRU.