YFS
Hamilton moved third with a 3-2 win over Aberdeen, the difference between the sides being two quick fire solo efforts from Ryan Tierney. Hamilton opened the scoring through Scott McMann but his effort was cancelled out minutes later by Joe Nuttall. With the start of the second half, Tierney scored two great goals to put Accies into a 3-1 lead. David Goodwillie managed to get one back but it wasn’t enough to stop Accies from taking the three points.
The match started at a frantic pace. It was a bit scrappy with no real chances until the twelfth minute. It came from an Aberdeen corner kick that Frank Ross sent to the back post, but headed clear. The clearance only found Dylan Thomas though, who passed inside for Joe Nuttall to strike over the cross bar.
Within minutes, Accies had the ball in the back of the Aberdeen net with their first attempt. The ball was sent deep toward the back post for Ross Cunningham to knock down for Scott McMann. The Accies defender brought the ball under control, beat his man and struck past the keeper.
No sooner had Accies fans sat back down, and Aberdeen had struck back. The ball was played up toward Ross, who then struck the ball low and hard across the eighteen yard line for Nuttall. The ex-Manchester City striker picked his spot and placed the ball beyond the reach of Alan Martin.
Accies won themselves a free kick twenty yards from the Aberdeen goal. Steven Boyd stepped up and sent the ball toward the underside of the cross bar, but Don’s keeper Robbie Mutch managed to touch over for an Accies corner kick.
The match remained all square, but Aberdeen were looking dangerous in and around the Accies penalty area. Goodwillie cut a quality ball back from the bye line for Nuttall, but his ten yard strike was parried away by Martin.
Thomas then had a speculative twenty five yard sail high over the bar and Bruce Anderson struck one straight at Martin from eight yards. Then on the cusp of half time, Scott Wright struck a volley from the edge of Hamilton’s penalty area, his spectacular effort was matched by the equally spectacular save by Martin.