THEY ended a 78-year wait for a win at Aberdeen earlier in the season and yesterday they erased more than five decades of woe with their first home win over the Dons since 1954. Now, Hamilton look like they can create some more history by staying in
the top flight after yesterday's deserved victory lifted them off the bottom of the SPL.
A Simon Mensing penalty and a late Richard Offiong strike were enough to earn them all three points and even the late dismissal of the latter for dissent did little to wipe the smile off manager Billy Reid's face.
"Richard's second goal was superb and for a spell of 20 minutes he was simply unplayable," said Reid. "When he's on form he has the ability in his locker to be a hugely influential player for us in the SPL and that's why we're so disappointed with what happened at the end.
"How do you think I feel about the red card? To boot the ball away in injury time when you are 2-0 up? He knows himself what he has done and he knows he's a major player for us that will now be missing.
"The most important thing is we got the win. We have had to adapt our style to other sides in the SPL. At times it isn't as attractive as we want it to be but it is effective. We are now more involved in games and have won our last three home games. We've always had the belief but we've added something more to our game and I hope we can keep it going."
Yet had things been different Hamilton may not have been celebrating a win yesterday and Offiong may well have had the afternoon off after some pre-game drama. A blocked pipe in the undersoil heating system caused part of the pitch at the nearside touchline to become frozen.
Referee Stephen Finnie deemed the pitch unplayable before Hamilton pleaded with the SPL to allow them to narrow the turf by a metre at either side to get the game on.
The SPL agreed and Aberdeen were saved the expense and time of another long wasted trip south – after seeing their clash with Kilmarnock KO'd late on because of a frozen pitch last month.
Aberdeen, who have toiled all week with a flu bug, took the game to their hosts early on and really should have been ahead at the break. Their first chance came on seven minutes as the unmarked Jeffrey de Visscher was brilliantly picked out by Darren Mackie, but the Dutchman blasted hopelessly over. He came a lot closer just moments later, though, as he totally outpaced Mark McLaughlin on the flank and his shot-cum-cross was turned over by Tomas Cerny.
However, to say that this was all one-way traffic would be doing a serious disservice to the hosts. With the talismanic figure of teenager James McCarthy in your ranks you are always going to have a chance.
He was the scourge of Aberdeen in Hamilton's 2-1 success at Pittodrie in September and was looking every bit as menacing yesterday. He turned Lee Mair inside out on eight minutes to set up Offiong for a crack on goal but the Englishman shot over from 10 yards.
David Graham came even closer before the break as his volley fizzed past and you sensed the home side had the bit between their teeth.
So it proved as on 50 minutes McCarthy was brought down by Zander Diamond in the penalty area and the home side were awarded a spot-kick.
Offiong quickly grabbed the ball but had it snatched from his grasp by a determined looking Mensing who stepped up and blasted the ball home much to the delirium of the home crowd.
They sensed a real chance to see their side come off the foot of the table but if they were to do so then Hamilton had some serious defending to do.
Lee Miller twice came close to a leveller. Firstly, he headed wide from close range. Then, he forced Cerny into a spectacular save to beat away his thunderous 20-yard free-kick.
At the other end, Jamie Langfield almost pressed the self-destruct button for the visitors when he spilled a Graham effort on 76 minutes and only the timely intervention of Diamond to boot clear prevented embarrassment for the Dons keeper.
However, his and Aberdeen's day of woe was complete on 79 minutes as Offiong superbly controlled a McCarthy chip on his chest before drilling low past Langfield to earn Hamilton a deserved win.
Offiong's joy was tempered, though, as he was red carded for a second booking in injury time for kicking the ball away but it was Dons manager Jimmy Calderwood who left New Douglas Park with a sore head.
"We can't use the flu bug as an excuse for what happened there. We have players in there who are professional enough to tell us if they are fit or not to play in a game," said Calderwood.
"We gave them another chance at half-time because some of them were looking like it was something different from the flu that was affecting them.
"Quite simply we had too many good players who weren't at the races. We deserved to lose, end of story."
