Hamilton man David Templeton was full of praise for his side after their second half comeback at the Toni Macaroni Arena earned them all three points.
The attacker was the standout for Brian Rice’s men during their 2-1 win over Livingston on Saturday.
He smashed home the equaliser in the second half after Livi has opened the scoring within the opening seconds and was a constant menace throughout, before turning provider late on to pick out Kyle Munro from a free kick for the winning goal.
And the former Hearts and Rangers man believes his team were deserving of all three points.
“It’s a tough place to come,” he said: “I think they (Livingston) only lost three games at home last season, you see Rangers didn’t manage to get a win. It’s a difficult place to come and you know you’re going to have to battle for every ball.
“At times when we got it down and played, I could get on it and find pockets and get shots at goal. At the start you had to win the battle first but as the game went on we managed to get the ball down and play more.
“It’s good to see Kyle (Munro) get the goal, that will give him confidence. He’s a good kid who works hard.”
Livingston dominated the first half and opened the scoring almost directly from kick off, netting inside the opening minute. Alan Forrest, who looked dangerous in the opening exchanges, slid the ball through to German forward Lars Lokotsch whose subsequent cross was turned into his own net by Shaun Watt.
It was the worst possible start for Hamilton, but they almost equalised fortuitously courtesy of an Efe Ambrose mistake. The former Celtic man looped a back pass to his goalkeeper, but Robbie McCrorie lost control of the ball, which left David Moyo with an open goal. The ‘keeper however did recover to clear with a sliding tackle, much to the relief of Ambrose who isn’t unacquainted to a defensive error.
The hosts had chances to double their lead before the break but were tasked with scoring past an in from Ryan Fulton who made good stops from Forrest and Marvin Bartley.
The second half saw Hamilton grow more into the game and they were rewarded just before the hour mark when David Templeton smashed home the equaliser. A corner swung into the box was met by Hakeem Odoffin who bulleted a header against the woodwork, rebounding into the stride of Templeton. Hamilton’s stand out man unleashed a similarly ferocious shot into the net which gave McCrorie no chance.
The match began to open up as both sides chased a winner with Templeton and Scott Pittman going closest. The former grew more into the game as it wore on and almost found the top corner with a left footed effort from the edge of the area with 20 minutes to go. Livingston then should have won the game themselves when Pittman was found free in the area six yards from goal, but he snatched at the chance and hit the crossbar when it appeared easier to score.
But, after rarely troubling McCrorie throughout, Hamilton scored minutes from the end through youngster Munro. The defender headed home from a Templeton free kick after sneaking in at the back post and guiding his effort back across the goalkeeper. It was the 18-year-olds first senior goal on his first senior start.
Livingston midfielder Pittman, who enjoyed a good game but missed the aforementioned golden opportunity of the second half was critical of himself after the final whistle.
He said: “When you look at the game you need to take your chances, especially the one I’ve missed at 1-1. If that goes in, we probably win the game.
“I think after scoring so early we expected to go dominate the game and take control of it. We never really done that and let them get into the game.
“We need to start keeping clean sheets again, that’s what our success has been built upon the last couple of seasons.
“It’s not like us losing those goals, from set pieces.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here