Rakish Bingham insists Hamilton are finally illustrating their attacking ability as last season’s least prolific top-flight outfit enjoy a free-scoring start to their Ladbrokes Premiership campaign.
A Bingham brace and a clinical Louis Longridge strike saw off the meek challenge of Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday, with Anthony Stokes’ late consolation providing little solace for the hosts.
With Longridge also striking the crossbar and Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano worked regularly, the triumph could have been even more handsome for the visitors.
The shock win followed a 3-0 triumph against Dundee – the first time Accies have notched three times in successive fixtures since January 2016.
Hamilton scored just 37 league goals all season last term as they narrowly avoided relegation via the play-offs, but Bingham is adamant he never lost faith in their quality going forward.
He said: “We have always had the ability to score and we have believed that – it’s starting to show on the pitch. That can only help confidence going into the rest of the season.
“We played with a lot of quality, confidence, passed it well and created good opportunities. Importantly, we took the chances we had.”
A classy showing was exemplified in Accies’ third goal, in which a stunning counter-attack saw Bingham put the finishing touch to a move involving Daniel Redmond, Longridge and the superb Greg Docherty.
He smiled: “It is probably one of the best goals I’ve ever been involved with. It was breathtaking – I can’t wait to watch it back on TV, to be honest.”
Meanwhile, Hibs head coach Neil Lennon rued the drop in standard between his side’s poor display against Accies and their thrilling 3-2 win over Rangers seven days earlier.
It is a disparity which he reckons is unacceptable if the capital club are to have aspirations of a European challenge and hopes the reverse acts as a wake-up call.
He said: “They had a week to prepare and if you are going to challenge for Europe or challenge teams at the top end, you have to be consistent. You have to be ruthless. If you can’t win the game, don’t get beat. We’ve had a great start to the season, a lot of nice things have been said about this team, but we were nowhere near the finished article – and we are still nowhere near the finished article.
“That has to be a real harsh lesson for the players.”
It is fair to say Saturday was not the debut Brandon Barker envisioned when he agreed to join Hibs on loan from Manchester City. However, the England youth internationalist remains certain that heading north will ultimately prove an inspired decision, and believes the progress of a certain Patrick Roberts illustrates why.
Barker, 20, starred alongside the Celtic fans’ favourite for club and country, and admits Roberts’ heroics last term helped to sell him on a switch to Scottish football.
And the winger, who has had stints with NAC Breda and Rotherham as well as turning out for England’s Under-20 side, fully intends to use that platform to boost his own profile and help him make the grade south of the border.
“I know Pat well,” said Barker.
“I played with him quite a few times in the national team and at City as well so I knew that he did brilliantly last year.
“He couldn’t have asked for a better year and hopefully I can have the same success as he did.
“That’s my plan too – to show everyone what I can do.”
Lennon has been an admirer of Barker for several years, even attempting to snap him up while manager of Bolton.
“[Lennon] is a great manager. Everyone knows him in football and I knew what he wanted me to bring,” Barker added.
“Hopefully I can start making people believe in me more.”
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