It was another of those games that have haunted our season. The opposition looked sharper, in control, and were able to score. Our defence was poor and our inability to make the best of our chances cost us dear.
There was no surprise in the team line up as Johnson started the game with Sutton making room.
We kicked off with the loud backing of a big support at Long’s goal. Hamilton were first to show a thread when Scotland was allowed an unchallenged run through midfield. He fed Imrie but the move broke down with a fluffed shot.
We answered with a fine effort from Ainsworth that had McGovern at full stretch. After a fairly frantic opening twenty minutes Accies got the opener. There seemed no danger but a ball through the centre gave Scotland a chance to take advantage of a gap in our back line. He made no mistake as the ball was drilled to Long’s right hand corner.
Erwin came close minutes later after good work from McDonald gave the young striker a clear shot from 15 yards. His half volley clipped the bar and the chance was gone. Laing sustained an injury and was replaced by Kerr. There followed a couple of chances at either end following corners. Devlin headed against the bar then Kerr headed high. Johnson added to the assaults on the woodwork with a shot from the left side of the box.
We had another excellent chance to level the game just before the break. We defended a corner and cleared to Erwin in the centre circle. He won the tussle and with McDonald on the run we soon had the ball in the box but a last gasp block ended the action.
Five minutes into the second half we lost a second. Erwin’s slack pass at halfway lost possession and as the defence swarmed to their left they left space for Crawford on the right and he had time to compose himself before scoring. We seemed to miss out the midfield and resorted to the quick ball up the park.
Dom Thomas replaced Johnson on the hour and with twenty minutes left Sutton came on for McDonald. The direct route was to be the answer! The only problem was that we kept over hitting the ball.
A measure of our performance was that the away support, long silenced, emptied their stand with ten minutes still to play. Erwin might have given us a thrill in the dying minutes but, clean through, he struck the ball against the ‘keeper’s legs.
Never mind the playoff, if we don’t improve the automatic relegation spot might be our fate.
Hamilton 2 Motherwell 0
Attendance 3,301 (1,850)
Team: Long, McManus, Ainsworth, Lasley, Law, Erwin, Straker, Laing(Kerr 30), Pearson, McDonald(Sutton 70), Johnson(D Thomas 58)