If it has been the kind of week that has felt like a lottery win to a Hamilton team who were in danger of being swept away at the bottom of the table just a fortnight ago, one can only
imagine that Kilmarnock feel like the recipients of a deft kick to the solar plexus.
Rugby Park manager Alex Dyer could not contain his fury at the decision of the SPFL board to penalise Kilmarnock and St Mirren with 3-0 defeats for alleged breaches of Covid protocol from games that were postponed in October.
And that was before losing a game to a penalty that he was unconvinced about.
“People sit up on their high chair and they give out punishments and no-one comes back to them,” said Dyer of the decisions. “It is easy for them. No-one questions them and it is not right. Players work hard all week to get three points by playing on the pitch. Not someone giving them out to one team. It doesn’t make sense.
“The whole world is going through a pandemic and the league has decided to come out at us a little bit when they should be protecting us.
“The club spent a lot of money
putting in the right measurements and we have been slapped round the face this week. Everything is a drama.”
Added to his sense of injustice
yesterday afternoon was a handball call that led to Ross Callachan giving Hamilton all three points from the spot in a game in which Kilmarnock played over an hour with 10 men.
Irked by a penalty decision that would have looked soft a few seasons back, as Callachan’s
shot came off the arm of Brandon Haunstrup, Dyer’s irritation
stemmed from the fact that
referee Willie Collum had waved away a similar infringement that would have gone in Kilmarnock’s favour in the opening period.
Even with 10 men after Clevid Dikamona had been dismissed for a challenge on Scott Martin
in the middle of the park, Kilmarnock edged the game in terms of chances made, particularly in the opening period.
The arrival of Nathan Thomas,
making his first league appearance for the Lanarkshire side, seemed to alter the ebb and flow of the game, while there was also an inevitability about Kilmarnock tiring.
Callachan’s conversion of the penalty midway through the second period gave Accies something to hold on to and although Killie continued to press for a leveller, the Lanarkshire side stayed firm.
Victory elevates Accies into 10th spot and manager Brian Rice accepted that easing away from the foot of the table has a massive mental bearing going into a fairly bust run of December games now.
“It is good to be off the bottom,” said Rice. “It is a big psychological boost. Managers and players always say they don’t look at the table but they do - everyday.
“It has been a good week for us. Six points and we couldn’t ask for any more than that.
“We had to work so hard for it but I think our second half performance just about merited the win. It is massive to get a home win and we have another home game next Saturday [against Hibs]. We now know what that feeling is like in the dressing room.
“Earlier the season we were making basic mistakes but they are now buying into what I want them to do. It is all credit to the players.”
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