AFTER showing so much fizz and sparkle against Dunfermline last weekend, Thistle started slowly and never recovered at New Douglas Park last night as they lost to Hamilton for the second time this season.

Their cause was not helped when Paul Paton was sent off 15 minutes from time for a scything tackle on Stevie May and Jackie McNamara, the Partick manager, was sent to the stand for his reaction.

Paton had been the victim of a hefty shoulder charge from May before retaliating, but initial viewing suggested the offence deserved no more than a booking.

If McNamara was irked at Paton for the rush of blood to the head, he was fuming at May, who rolled on the deck as if he had been caught by a sniper's rifle.

McNamara's assistant, Simon Donnelly, spoke after the game and confirmed it was May's reaction that caused the bad feeling. "He got up, he wasn't hurt," Donnelly said. "We just look to the cleverness of the striker, let's say, and we look back to tackles that we've had against us that have been 10 times worse than that."

It is not just Paton and McNamara who will have woken to pangs of regret this morning. The defeat will be a tough one too for the Thistle goalkeeper Graeme Smith.

The former Hibs and Motherwell man, who has been out of the game since returning from Azerbaijan in the summer, was drafted in this week after Scott Fox was injured against Dunfermline. His lack of first-team games was cruelly exposed when Hamilton, who were second-bottom of the table going into the game, scored just before the interval. A relatively innocuous corner from Ali Crawford caught Smith off guard and he somehow fumbled the ball into the back of his own net.

As the game wore on, Thistle won corner after corner. They drew gasps with near things and felt they should have had a penalty when Kris Doolan seemed to be pushed, but the elusive leveller just would not come.

As they pushed forward, Hamilton came close to catching them out on the break, with Smith going a little way towards redeeming himself with a decent save from Andy Ryan.

"We've got a group of kids learning their trade here and they're learning how to win games at this level," said Billy Reid, the Hamilton manager.

Dunfermline have the chance to draw level on points at the top this afternoon when they play Raith Rovers.