Upbeat Accies take momentum into Celtic clash

Martin Canning feels Hamilton will go into their clash with Celtic on a roll after fighting back for a 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock.

Accies looked dead and buried after allowing the hosts to move two goals up at Rugby Park, with Louis Longridge's early own goal and a tidy Lee Erwin finish.

But the Lanarkshire men - already in high spirits after back-to-back wins over Dundee and Hibernian - battled back for another valuable point as Ali Crawford tucked away a late penalty after Giannis Skondras had given them a lifeline.

The draw keeps Hamilton in fourth and Canning hopes the confidence from their early results can help them march on.

“At 2-0 down you think it's going to be difficult but the fighting spirit was great,'' he said. “Maybe if we hadn't got two wins previously we wouldn't have won a point here.

“But momentum is massive in football. We want to keep that.

“Celtic at home next will be a big ask but I am just delighted with how we have started.

“We are six ahead of Killie and seven ahead of Partick and we would have taken that at the start of the season.

“We got a lot of credit after Hibs for getting the ball down and dominating. This was the other side at 2-0 down.

“We showed that we can dig deep when we need to. That was pleasing.''

Longridge handed Killie the initiaive when he turned a Dom Thomas free-kick into his own net after just three minutes.

Frontman Kris Boyd limped off with a hamstring injury midway through the first half but that gave Erwin his chance and he made the most of it when he lobbed Gary Woods 13 minutes into the second half.

But Skondras rifled Accies back into the contest on 72 minutes before Crawford slotted home from the spot with two minutes remaining after Stevie Smith tripped Greg Docherty in the box.

The result means Killie - who have started the campaign with four home games - have now won just eight of their last 42 fixtures on their own patch and boss Lee McCulloch admitted something has to be done about their Rugby Park displays.

He said: “There's a sense of frustration because in any game anywhere in the world, if you go two goals up then you've got to see the game out. It's about game management and it's disappointing.

“It's our first point on the board and it's now four home games in a row in the league so obviously our home record isn't too good. It's something we will need to address as we know the stats.

“It's something we need to address pretty quickly. When we went two goals up there was a sense of nervousness for some reason. When you go two goals up you should get your chest out and pass the ball quicker than we did.'

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