Hamilton vs Queen of the South preview - Crawford missing for Accies

Hamilton will be without Ali Crawford for the visit of Queen of the South as the midfielder has still not fully recovered from a knee injury.

Stephen Hendrie also misses out as he is on international duty for Scotland's Under-17 side, with manager Billy Reid targeting a second successive win at home for the first time this season.

Reid said: "It is no secret that our home form has not been great so it would be terrific to add to our win in midweek over Dundee with a success over Queen of the South and build up the feelgood factor about New Douglas Park.

"It will not be easy as they will be fighting for every ball to get the win they need to help avoid relegation trouble."

Queen of the South are hoping attacking midfielder Nicky Clark will return to the squad after injury as the First Division's bottom side look for a morale-boosting win.

The Doonhamers, who were beaten 5-0 at home by Partick last week, will be without strikers Kevin Smith and Marc McCusker, with manager Gus McPherson demanding a huge improvement.

McPherson said: "I am looking for a massive reaction from the squad after a really poor performance against Partick. We need to get back to the fighting display we put on when we defeated Raith Rovers only the Saturday before.

"We were lacking all over the pitch and we need to do much better against a Hamilton side that are a good mix of former SPL players and exciting youngsters."