Brian Rice salutes ‘magnificent’ Hamilton after thumping win over Motherwell

Posted Sunday, February 14, 2021 by PA

Hamilton head coach Brian Rice hailed his players for following up their impressive display against Rangers by beating local rivals Motherwell 4-1 at Fir Park.

Accies recorded their third Lanarkshire derby win of the season after sweeping past Motherwell in a one-sided first half.

Bruce Anderson netted his first Accies goal inside seven minutes and Ross Callachan doubled the lead from the spot after Stephen O’Donnell had been sent off for pulling back the midfielder as he attacked an aerial ball on the six-yard box.

Anderson set up Marios Ogkmpoe to make it three just after the half-hour mark and it could have been more before the break.

David Moyo produced a classy finish soon after coming off the bench before Mark O’Hara scored from the spot with Motherwell’s only shot on target.

The win moved Hamilton off the foot of the table on goal difference and maintained their form after claiming a well-deserved point against Rangers last weekend.

Rice said: “I couldn’t have asked for any more from the boys. I challenged them to reproduce what they produced last Sunday and to have a go. They responded magnificently.

“The game after the Old Firm is always a worry because you get these plaudits and it sometimes affects you.

“It doesn’t affect me because I know what’s at stake and the players know what’s at stake and I think you saw that in the performance.

“Every second ball, every header, they are throwing themselves into things. I am on their back because I want the best for them, but I enjoyed that.

“Some of the football was good, but it’s not often anybody says that about Hamilton. It’s usually the other team didn’t turn up or they were down to 10 men, but I don’t think anyone can take anything away from us today.

“That’s as good as we have played, passing the ball. But every aspect of our game was really good.”

Motherwell boss Graham Alexander ended a frustrating afternoon in the stand after picking up two yellow cards for complaining about decisions.

Alexander felt O’Donnell’s red card was harsh, but admitted his side’s poor first-half display had shocked him.

“The first goal certainly because it’s almost the complete reverse of everything we have been doing over the last few games,” he said.

“We showed how well we defended on Wednesday. When we analysed it with the players, it’s the players that produce the clips for us and they were absolutely spot-on with that.

“On Monday we will come in and we will ask the questions and they will know all the answers because they will see it and know exactly what went wrong.

“But the biggest thing in professional football is how you train and the knowledge you have off the pitch, and then putting it into pressure situations, and today we were found wanting, certainly in the first 15-20 minutes.

“We made poor decisions and that gave the opponent the opportunity to take advantage.”