THEY might not have been dancing in the streets around New Douglas Park on Saturday night, but Hamilton Academical fans could have been forgiven for claiming some reflected glory after Wigan's shock success in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
Two products of the First Division club's successful youth academy, Glasgow-born midfield duo James McArthur and James McCarthy, honed their talents with Accies before moving to the English Premier League and on to international honours with Ireland and Scotland.
McCarthy, 22, moved to Wigan in 2009, while his teammate and friend McArthur, 25, followed a year later. Known as the Two Jameses while at Accies, they both played their part in Saturday's 1-0 win over favourites Manchester City.
In fact there was a strong Scottish flavour running throughout the Wigan side.
As well as McArthur and McCarthy, former Celtic player Shaun Maloney took the corner from which Ben Watson scored the winner, while former Aberdeen starlet Fraser Fyvie and club captain Gary Caldwell were unused substitutes. The presence of McArthur and McCarthy prompted some Hamilton fans to make the journey south to cheer them on. "I think there were a good few fans going down, yes," Scott Struthers, Hamilton's secretary, said yesterday. He suggested this said much about the links between the two sides.
"Wigan are very similar to ourselves. They've come from the bottom and worked their way up. They punch above their weight the same way as we did with our three seasons in the SPL a couple of seasons ago," he added.
"Graeme Jones, the assistant manager, is also an ex-Hamilton player. We had good links with him and manager Roberto Martinez even when they were at Swansea, so they are a club and a management team we know well."
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