Match ends, Hamilton Academical 1, Aberdeen 0.
HamiltonHamilton Academical1AberdeenAberdeen0
Hamilton moved up to ninth in the Premiership with victory over Aberdeen.
Accies took the lead when Mikey Devlin stole in ahead of Ash Taylor to divert Danny Redmond's free-kick into the net from close range.
Adam Rooney almost brought the Dons level, his glancing header from Niall McGinn's cross coming back off a post.
Substitute Miles Storey had a goal ruled out for offside as Accies held on for the win despite a late red card for midfielder Darian MacKinnon.
The defeat sees Aberdeen remain nine points clear of third-placed Rangers having played a game more. Hamilton move off the bottom of the table and above Inverness CT, Motherwell and Ross County.
Devlin downs Dons
Hamilton stunned the Dons after just nine minutes with Devlin's first goal of the season, the defender getting a foot on the ball as the Aberdeen back-line hesitated and allowed him to prod the ball home.
Aberdeen started without Johnny Hayes, a shock absentee whose hamstring problem could also keep him out of the weekend Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle.
But they responded in positive fashion. Rooney rattled Gary Woods' left post with a header, McGinn flashed a shot across the goal and the same player landed a free-kick on top of the net.
Despite being a goal down they dominated play throughout the half, but just couldn't get the ball in the net.
Resolute Accies
The pressure on Hamilton was incessant but what you do have to say is that their defending was courageous.
And their spirits were lifted by the appearance off the bench of their marquee player Ali Crawford after a five-game absence through injury.
Devlin made an incredible goal-saving header over his own bar before Rooney failed to put away a Kenny McLean cross. Still the Alamo-like performance by the home team went on.
Even when sub Storey had the ball in the net Accies were saved by the offside flag.
And then Hamilton's luck seemed to change.
Two yellow cards within a minute meant a red for MacKinnon - the second a particularly reckless challenge - and suddenly for the last six minutes the home team were down to ten men.
But incredibly, despite conceding 20 corner kicks and winning not a single one themselves, they held out for a quite astonishing and vitally important win.
Reaction
Hamilton manager Martin Canning: "Obviously in the first half we get our opportunity and we take it. Probably in the game we had four or five breakaways when we could have done better with the final pass.
"In the main it was backs to the wall, Aberdeen are a top team, so we knew they were going to be on the front foot. But with the situation we are in, everybody's got to fight, they've got to brave and throw their bodies on the line. Everything I'd want to see from the team, and I have seen it all season to be honest, was there tonight.
"Yeah, we rode our luck, Aberdeen had a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the box but I don't remember too many clear cut chances.
"A lot of it was balls into the box and Michael Devlin was outstanding. I've never mentioned it to the media before but it's something we've mentioned behind closed doors here. When you go back a couple of months ago when Scotland were playing, people were saying there are no young Scottish centre backs about and nobody even mentioned Michael, and he's captaining a Premier League team at 22.
"That's in the future and I think he's got the capabilities to go there but he just has to keep his head down and keep working hard and keep on performing like that, because Aberdeen are a top team and you're competing against the best in the country. All round I thought he was fantastic."
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "A lot of pride in the performance and pride in the response, dealing with the situation, players taking real responsibility.
"I didn't think it was a difficult game for us, coming here we normally find it a bit more difficult than it was tonight. I thought we dominated the game and some of our play was excellent. We can be critical of the goal we lost and the amount of crosses in their box and how we've not converted chances.
"Kenny McLean was a Rolls Royce tonight, he was absolutely everywhere. The high quality of his crossing, his possession and his work rate. He was in good company with a lot of good performances in the team, but sometimes you don't get what you deserve.
"It was total dominance, the game was played in their final third. We tried to be as positive as we could and we didn't panic. We just never had that final pass or shot in us tonight. Everyone could see how eager and determined our team was tonight to make the game go our way. While we lost we can still have a lot of pride in our performance."
Line-ups
Hamilton
Formation 3-5-2
- 34Woods
- 89Sarris
- 4Devlin
- 23McMann
- 3SkondrasBooked at 52mins
- 18MacKinnonBooked at 83mins
- 6Gillespie
- 10RedmondSubstituted forDochertyat 62'minutes
- 7Imrie
- 12KurtajSubstituted forCrawfordat 62'minutes
- 15BinghamSubstituted forDonatiat 84'minutes
Substitutes
- 1Matthews
- 8Docherty
- 11Crawford
- 20Brophy
- 21Donati
- 30Boyd
- 39Adams
Aberdeen
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Lewis
- 2Logan
- 5Taylor
- 6ReynoldsSubstituted forPawlettat 45'minutes
- 4Considine
- 22JackSubstituted forO'Connorat 89'minutes
- 3ShinnieBooked at 72mins
- 10McGinn
- 7McLean
- 8ChristieSubstituted forStoreyat 71'minutes
- 9Rooney
Substitutes
- 15O'Connor
- 16Pawlett
- 25Alexander
- 26Wright
- 27Ross
- 29McLennan
- 39Storey
- Referee:
- Steven McLean
- Attendance:
- 2,006
Match Stats
Home TeamHamiltonAway TeamAberdeen
- Possession
- Home43%
- Away57%
- Shots
- Home3
- Away15
- Shots on Target
- Home2
- Away3
- Corners
- Home0
- Away21
- Fouls
- Home8
- Away9
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Hamilton Academical 1, Aberdeen 0.
Post update
Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Georgios Sarris.
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Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Grant Gillespie.
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Georgios Sarris (Hamilton Academical) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Foul by Peter Pawlett (Aberdeen).
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Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Michael Devlin.
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Attempt blocked. Kenny McLean (Aberdeen) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution
Substitution, Aberdeen. Anthony O'Connor replaces Ryan Jack because of an injury.
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Attempt missed. Dougie Imrie (Hamilton Academical) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
Substitution
Substitution, Hamilton Academical. Massimo Donati replaces Rakish Bingham.
Dismissal
Second yellow card to Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Academical) for a bad foul.
Post update
Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Academical).
Booking
Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Academical) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Academical).
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Attempt missed. Ash Taylor (Aberdeen) header from the centre of the box is too high.
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Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Gary Woods.
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Hand ball by Greg Docherty (Hamilton Academical).
