Late collapse infuriates Hamilton boss Martin Canning

Hamilton manager Martin Canning admitted their late collapse against Hearts was the hardest blow to take so far after Accies lost a lead for the ninth time this season.

Ali Crawford's 25-yard free-kick and a well-taken double by Rakish Bingham put Hamilton 3-1 up at the SuperSeal Stadium following Jamie Walker's early opener.

But Walker pulled one back from the spot in the 73rd minute and Callum Paterson ran on to Perry Kitchen's pass to slot home and make it 3-3 four minutes from time.

Canning said: "I feel like I'm saying the same thing week in, week out. It's frustrating again, we got ourselves in a great position and to not come away with three points, again it feels like a defeat.

"It's the hardest one to take, not for the way the game went but for the fact we gave ourselves a two-goal lead.

"When you have a one-goal advantage the game can always swing on a wee mistake or one moment here or there.

"But when you give yourselves a two-goal leads, we should have enough on the park to see the game out."

Hearts got a lifeline when Dan Seaborne slid in on Don Cowie to concede the penalty.

"On first view it looked a penalty but I think Dan has slipped," Canning said.

"There is not a lot he can do. Unfortunately as he has fallen, he took the player out.

"But even at 3-2 we should have enough to see the game through. You can feel the edginess and the third goal is totally avoidable, we made two basic mistakes."

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson was also disappointed his side let their opponents back into the game.

Neilson said: "We conceded two poor goals but we fought hard and kept going and managed to get something."

The Tynecastle boss was also upset that Crawford did not get more punishment than a yellow card for an over-the-ball challenge on Walker in stoppage time.

Neilson said: "I don't want to say too much about it but I don't think the referee (Steven McLean) did his job.

"The referee has a responsibility first and foremost to protect players and, if he's not going to do that, then he's not doing his job.

"I spoke to him after it and he said it happened that quick that he's not sure."