THE quality is often questionable but Scottish football's ability to produce excitement, entertainment and talking points remains largely undiminished.
A 3-3 draw between Hamilton Academical and Partick Thistle may not mean a huge amount in the grand scheme of things but the pulsating manner in which the match ebbed and flowed, favouring one side and then the other, means it will probably stay in the memory of all who were there for quite some time.
Such was the drama that it caused Stuart Bannigan, the Thistle midfielder, to reveal he was "heartbroken" come the conclusion. Danny Redmond, scorer of Hamilton's second goal, said his emotions were "up the wall". It was the kind of match that left even those watching from the sidelines feeling shaken up.
Neither side was happy with the outcome. Hamilton may have snatched a draw thanks to Tony Andreu's injury-time goal, a result that stops the slide after back-to-back defeats, but their primary emotion was frustration after building up an early two-goal advantage and then letting Thistle overhaul it to go in front. That they ended up needing a last-gasp intervention at all was an evident source of annoyance after looking fairly comfortable midway through the first half.
"We went 2-0 up and would have had a better chance of winning if we had seen it through to half-time," said Redmond. "But we conceded one that was a bit sloppy."
The result, and the manner in which it was achieved, at least demonstrated another side to Hamilton. Having been praised for reaching the top of the SPFL Premiership with a brand of eye-catching and slick passing football, against Thistle they showed they can also grind it out when they must.
"It's good that we haven't lost three on the bounce, we dug in and got the equaliser," added Redmond. "It shows that we can dig in when we have to. We are quite a small side so people maybe look at that. But this shows that we can cope with things that are difficult and we fight for one another."
There was disappointment among the Thistle camp as well. Only a matter of seconds stood between them and a first away win in the league this season - Andreu scored with effectively the last touch of the game - and there was frustration at having done so well to overturn a two-goal deficit only to throw it away.
"That sums up our season - last-minute goals," said Bannigan, who wasn't permitted to speak about his appeal against the red card received in the match against Celtic last week. "That's twice against Hamilton this season. So we're disappointed but it was good that we didn't roll over."
Indeed, there was plenty to be positive about in Thistle's second-half performance when goals from James Craigen and Christie Elliott, following Jordan McMillan's first-half strike, seemed to have set them on the way to that elusive win on the road.
"We showed a good bit of character," added Bannigan. "When you lose two goals quickly you need to stop the storm and stop a third goal. Getting the goal before half-time shook them a bit and put them on the back foot.
"In the second half we didn't want to press too early so they could suck us in and hit us on the counterattack. You are always disappointed for a couple of days but we need to see the big picture and after being two down and come back against a team that's been top of the league it's not all bad."
Hamilton's first-half goals came from Darian MacKinnon and then Redmond, with the latter believing the crop of young players at the club is the best he has ever worked with.
"Hamilton is the best club I have seen in terms of promoting young players," said the son of Steve, the former Manchester City and Oldham Athletic defender. "If they are doing well in the youth team or the reserves then they get a chance. The young lads here train with us and have shown they are more than capable. The gaffer knows they are there if he needs to call on them."
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