Aberdeen missed the chance to go second in the Ladbrokes Premiership as Dougie Imrie netted his fifth goal in eight games to seal a 1-1 draw for Hamilton at New Douglas Park.
Kenny McLean gave Aberdeen a fourth-minute lead with a well-taken volley and the Dons survived some sustained first-half pressure.
They looked set to move five points behind Celtic after tightening up after the interval but Imrie scored on the rebound with 20 minutes left to earn Hamilton a point.
Both sides had reported pre-match injury doubts and Hamilton playmaker Ali Crawford and defender Jesus Garcia Tena missed out, along with Aberdeen skipper Ryan Jack.
Hamilton, who were wearing France away kits in memory of the Paris attack victims, went close twice before the opener. Ash Taylor gifted Imrie a glorious first-minute chance when his misplaced pass sent the winger clean through but Danny Ward stood up well to block.
Grant Gillespie soon went close with a well-struck volley but the visitors scored with their first attack.
Shay Logan sent Niall McGinn away down the right wing and his cross ultimately fell for McLean, who cut across the ball to fire a volley in off the bar.
An excellent challenge from Jamie Sendles-White stopped Peter Pawlett doubling the lead on the break but Accies then created a series of chances, the best coming when Greg Docherty mis-kicked after Imrie's cutback.
Docherty soon hit a much better effort just wide from 30 yards, an Imrie curler deflected away from goal and Ward saved shots from Docherty, Gramoz Kurtaj and Carlton Morris, who also went close from two headers.
Aberdeen threatened with a succession of crosses before Hamilton missed another good chance when Darian MacKinnon scuffed a volley from 18 yards.
Michael McGovern kept the home side in the game just before the break when he pushed McLean's curling 22-yard shot past his far post.
Jonny Hayes missed a good headed chance for Aberdeen inside a minute of the second half, and then both he and Rooney drew decent saves with drives from outside the box.
Hamilton were struggled to create chances but they were not short on effort and they forced their way back into the game out of the blue.
Kurtaj managed to turn inside the box and get a low shot on target and Ward could only palm it into the path of Imrie, who tapped home.
McGovern parried a powerful long-range effort from Hayes before Logan handled on the edge of the box, Kurtaj being booked by Willie Collum for going over the top in his protest that the offence had been inside after the referee awarded a free-kick.
Both sides pushed for a winner but neither could fashion a clear chance in the latter stages, although a Hayes cross hit the bar.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel