Hamilton striker D'Acol still hurting from Celtic humiliation

Hamilton's Brazilian striker Alex D'Acol admits Accies' eight-goal humiliation against Celtic hurt even more than watching his Samba heroes tumble out of the 2014 World Cup.

The 29-year-old was desperate to see his countrymen lift the biggest prize in football on home soil for a record sixth time 18 months ago.

But there was only heartache for the hosts as they suffered the embarrassment of a 7-1 drubbing from eventual winners Germany in the semi-finals.

It was a dark day for his compatriots but D'Acol confessed the pain of that defeat has been surpassed by the agony of losing 8-1 to Premiership leaders Celtic last week.

He said: "I had never been part of a defeat as bad as that before. But that's football. It can happen - even to Brazil in the World Cup against Germany.

"I hear about that everyday, especially from the German guys here Gramoz Kurtaj and Christopher Mandiangu.

"I was on holiday in America and watched the game in a restaurant. We had to leave at half-time it was so bad. People were booing as we walked out.

"That was bad but the Celtic match was worse. I was playing in that game and you feel it in your skin."

Accies - who have also suffered the shame of being dumped out of the William Hill Scottish Cup to League Two minnows Annan - recovered some pride as they battled to a 0-0 stalemate with Hearts on Sunday.

And D'Acol praised boss Martin Canning for managing to convince his players to forget all about their Celtic Park torment.

"Every game is a piece of history and you have to put it in the past so you have a good mentality for the next game," said D'Acol.

"We cannot let what happened before affect us.

"The gaffer spoke to us after the Celtic match. He told us to reset our minds and to get back in shape. If you stay in the past after a hard defeat, you will never get your head back in the game coming up.

"We did that before the Hearts match and it really helped."

D'Acol left his homeland aged just 17 and has spent the majority of his career playing in Greece, including stints at Olympiacos and AEK Athens.

But he is still trying to adjust to life in Scotland after joining Accies at the end of August.

The forward has started Hamilton's last four matches after seven appearances off the bench but is still waiting to net his first goal for the New Douglas Park outfit.

"I'm really fitting in now," he said. "When I first joined the league had already started and I had missed pre-season.

"But now I feel I am fitting in and that I can help even more with each game that comes.

"There is more to come, I really feel it. I'm excited to score my first goal. But they will come naturally. The important thing is the team - you cannot risk that for a personal objective."