OF the 1500 or so people present willing a last-minute winner for Hamilton at the Superseal Stadium yesterday, it is just as well that when the chance presented itself, the ball fell to the coolest of the lot. As Tomas Cerny’s save landed at the feet of David Templeton, an almighty roar of ‘shoot’ came cascading down from the main stand, and as manager Martin Canning admitted afterwards, bellowing from the dugout too. But the former Hearts and Rangers attacker kept his cool, took a touch, sidestepped the prone keeper and slotted it home. Only then, did he lose his head along with everyone around him, as his vital goal took Accies above visiting side Partick Thistle and out of the relegation play-off position.

“Temps didn’t panic when the ball came to him, although I was wanting him to snatch at it,” said Canning.

“I was shouting ‘Shoot!’ A more inexperienced player would have panicked and missed but he had the composure – more than I would have had in that situation. He took his time and it was a good finish.

“We’ve lost late goals a few times this season so it’s nice to be on the other end of that for a change.”

For those of a Thistle persuasion, it was a familiar sinking feeling, as the concession of yet another late goal saw them dragged right into the relegation mire after a day that had started so promisingly. It’s just a shame that everything in between the opening 10 minutes or so and the final few seconds was so devoid of quality.

Hamilton’s staff and players spend an inordinate amount of time defending their pitch and its frankly appalling condition. If they were savvy though, they wouldn’t bother, because if this is the sort of fare that is being produced at the Superseal on a regular basis, then the pitch may be the only thing protecting their professional reputations.

So, I’ll be kind, and say that the surface played a huge part in a match that was notable mostly for the amount of glaring errors, poor touches and errant passing produced by two teams of Premiership footballers. Even those with undoubted technical ability, like Templeton in the home ranks and Blair Spittal in the away side, found it hard going to master the ball in any meaningful way.

A lot of that of course may also have been down to the magnitude of the occasion, but it was a low-key start amid a flat atmosphere that belied the enormity of the game. All that changed though as referee Nick Walsh awarded Thistle an early penalty, and to be fair to the official, he had warned the Accies players about pulling jerseys in the area as Spittal waited to swing in a corner.

That must have been lost in translation for Greek defender Georgios Sarris, who hauled Danny Devine to the ground and the spot-kick was duly awarded. Conor Sammon stepped up to squeeze the ball past Gary Woods for his eighth goal in eight games.

From the kick-off though, Accies stormed up the park, won a corner, and duly drew themselves level. Dougie Imrie swung the ball to the near post where Antonio Rojano rose unmarked to glance home, and there was a feeling we might have had a thriller on our hands.

Sadly, that didn’t quite come to pass, but there was another talking point as Kris Doolan headed home Spittal’s free-kick only to be denied by the offside flag. It looked a tight call, and Jags manager Alan Archibald felt the striker might have been given the benefit of the doubt.

"Dools thought he was on, because he normally starts in to come back out, and he thought he was out early enough,” Archibald said.

“He normally does it very well, and we said that to the officials, but as usual we got nothing back from them. We’ll look at it, but my phone won’t ring anyway whether it’s right or wrong.”

Thistle were looking the likelier as the game wore on, but just as the game looked to be petering out to a draw, Hamilton nicked it. Lewis Ferguson did brilliantly to find Rojano, whose shot was brilliantly saved by Cerny. It fell to Templeton, who did the rest, and he will rightly hog the headlines. But his goalkeeper played just as big a part in the win, as Thistle almost salvaged a point after Stevie Lawless hung the ball up for Erskine to attack, with Woods producing an astounding save to claw the ball out of the top corner.

Scorers

HAMILTON: Rojano (11’), Templeton (91')

PARTICK THISTLE: Sammon (9’)

Referee: Nick Walsh

Attendance 2243