KILMARNOCK manager Lee McCulloch watched his side avoid a fourth-straight league defeat yesterday – yet such is the cruel nature of football he would have gone home feeling more frustrated than ever.
Individual errors are the bane of managers across the game and McCulloch knew that all too well here as Steven Smith conceded a late penalty to gift a draw to Hamilton Academical, who had been trailing 2-0 with half an hour to play at Rugby Park.
There comes a stage when, as far as getting points on the board is concerned, the ‘how’ becomes less and less important. However, the deflation was palpable in the home end as a Louis Longridge own-goal and a Lee Erwin strike were cancelled out by Giannis Skondras and Ali Crawford’s 88th-minute spot-kick.
Although there was more for McCulloch to be pleased about here, including a mostly assured defensive display and a first Premiership goal for summer signing Erwin, he couldn’t hide his disappointment as his side threw away a first victory.
“In any game of football, anywhere in the world, when you go 2-0 up you have to see it out,” he admitted. “I didn’t see the penalty and I haven’t spoken to Steven Smith. We haven’t played that badly, although we have played better this season and lost but that’s football.”
Barely two minutes had passed before Dom Thomas whipped a low free-kick along the proverbial corridor of uncertainty and the ball deflected into the net via Longridge. The Ayrshire men appeared to be on course for three points when Adam Frizzell’s lofted ball set Erwin free just before the hour and he calmly lobbed an advancing Gary Woods.
But a fine left-footed finish from Skondras on 71 minutes raised tensions and there was an inevitability about the equaliser – even if Smith’s foul on Greig Docherty was almost inexplicable as the Hamilton man travelled away from goal.
With seven points from an available 12, Hamilton continue to defy those who tipped them to go down for the umpteenth season in a row. Martin Canning’s side were a social media sensation following their magical third goal against Hibernian last week, but on this occasion the manager lauded their fighting spirit after a gutsy comeback.
“Last week we got credit for dominating the game but we showed today that we can dig deep as well when we have to,” he said. “If someone had said four games ago that we’d be six points ahead of Kilmarnock and seven ahead of Partick Thistle we would have taken it.”
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