Hamilton boss Martin Canning unhappy with Georgios Sarris' touchline antics

Published 24th Dec 2017

Hamilton boss Martin Canning criticised Georgios Sarris' touchline behaviour after his side lost to Partick Thistle.

Sarris reacted angrily to a coming together with Thistle striker Miles Storey and had to be calmed down on the field by captain Dougie Imrie at the end of a 1-0 loss at the Energy Check Stadium.

Sarris was cautioned at the final whistle but they were again worrying scenes for Accies who are already facing a Scottish Football Association charge for failing to control their players against Ross County last week.

Ioannis Skondras sparked a melee on the touchline that ended with the defender being sent off, but they avoided a similar situation on Saturday after Imrie intervened.

Canning said: ''For him (Sarris) that was frustration at his performance as opposed to anything else.

''I don't think he had his best game and he's frustrated, but you can't act like that.''

Sarris endured a tough afternoon and was arguably at fault for the only goal of the game, scored by Niall Keown.

The Accies defender lost his man as Martin Woods delivered a good corner and saw Keown volley home from close range unchallenged to claim three vital points for Thistle.

And Canning admitted that error cost his side in a scrappy encounter.

He said: ''One mistake or piece of misfortune in the box - I think our own player ran into Sarris - and his man scores from the set-piece.

I think it was the only effort Partick had, they didn't have a lot.''

For Thistle, it was an important afternoon as the three points lifted them off the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership thanks to Hibernian's win over Ross County.

They picked up a first clean sheet since October and manager Alan Archibald was in an optimistic mood at the end of the game.

''It was really important,'' he said of the clean sheet.

''We changed things up a bit today, it's the first time we've been able to change the midfield about and move Adam Barton back, with (Jordan) Turnbull suspended.

We've not been able to do that all season because we didn't have enough midfielders, so it was good to have that and I thought Adam did well there and I thought Martin Woods was again very good and gave us a balance and protection in the middle area.''