Hamilton captain Mikey Devlin has backed Willie Collum after the referee’s display in Accies’ win over Aberdeen angered the Pittodrie club.
Collum came in for a fair bit of stick from the visiting support, players and management staff after awarding a soft-looking penalty to the home side for Anthony O’Connor’s apparent foul on Alex D’Acol.
Their frustration was compounded when a number of claims for a penalty of their own were turned down in the second half, but Devlin supported the whistler and praised his performance.
“When you’ve been awarded a penalty – which we scored from – then you’re always concerned when they have one claim followed by another and then a third – that the referee might give it,” Devlin said.
“To be honest, I didn’t think any of them were penalties. I might be wrong because I haven’t seen them again but I never thought: ‘We’ve got away with one there.’
“I think they were just claiming for so many in the hope that the referee might even things up by giving them one. Willie Collum had a good game and he managed to stay strong and make the right decisions.”
Devlin admits that it was a relief as Accies managed to hold on to their lead against Aberdeen to record a massive win that moved them into the top six.
His return to the side after several weeks out injured coincided with Hamilton showing a greater resolve in the face of late pressure, after they previously let winning positions slip away in seven league matches this season.
And his presence was key in the sound defensive showing that was the bedrock upon which their triumph was built.
“It was a huge victory for the club,” he said. “Unfortunately for us, every time we’ve taken the lead this season – bar one game – we’ve not gone on to win.
“That’s left us in the position we’re in, scrapping around at the bottom of the division, and we need to start taking all three points from games to get away from there.
“We knew it would be tough against Aberdeen because they were flying – they’d won six on the bounce and won their two previous league games 4-0.
“They were full of confidence so we had to get on the front foot and make ourselves horrible to play against, get in their faces and stop them playing and we managed to do unsettle them.
“It had been the story of our season that we’d start games well and then not get the second or third goal that we needed and deserved.
“The first goal is crucial in this league because it gives you that opportunity to score the second and the third one because the other team has to come at you.
“We didn’t manage to get it on Tuesday night either but this time we defended well enough – from the two forwards on down – to see the game out.”
Remarkably, the win over Aberdeen was only Hamilton’s third league victory at home in a year, and Devlin has stressed the need for that record to be urgently addressed if they are to keep themselves away from the relegation scrap.
“We used to have a strong record here but we’d got away from that and that makes this a massive win,” he said.
“I think we should have an advantage playing at home because of our pitch because we play on it regularly as well as play on it.
“People shouldn’t look forward to coming here and I think that is the case but we’ve been a little too soft recently and it’s been too easy for opponents to get the better of us.”
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