Just why Hamilton Accies have enjoyed such success in the last year was demonstrated splendidly on the first day of this new one by a combination of the realism of their manager and the ambition of his players following their 5-0 derby thrashing of Motherwell.

Alex Neill, their player/manager, made it clear that he will not be in any way deflated by the prospect of losing players in this transfer window, but will instead see it as affirmation of what is happening at the club.

"People keep talking as if that's a concern for me, but that's not a concern in the slightest. My job's to set out to give young players a platform to play and if they're good enough the last thing we will do is stand in their way of them going on and furthering themselves," he said.

"They're doing their job by showing everybody what they are capable of doing. At the end of the day if somebody comes in with money that we value them at then they'll go on to bigger and better things as lads have done in the past."

In one sense that is a sad comment on the state of Scottish football, but this is an increasingly impressive leader who seems to understand the environment in which he is operating.

Meantime, until such time as the offers arrive, those on the books can dare to dream about what 2015 has in store for the team that narrowly failed to win Scottish football's second tier competition and after registering the second of those derby day goals Ali Crawford articulated just how things feel inside the New Douglas Park dressing room.

"I think everybody would be happy to play in a team like that," said the 23-year-old midfielder.

"We are playing well, confidence is high and we are scoring goals, which is the main thing. Where we are in the league shows how well we've done this season. We just need to keep doing what we're doing and hopefully we'll stay in the top six."

In spite of the fact that they remain in the Premiership's top four, as they have been throughout the season so far, many will make them underdogs tomorrow when they visit Scottish Cup holder St Johnstone since the Perth side is on a six match winning run and one suspects that will suit them just fine.

As Neill noted when admitting he thought things could get no better than the 4-0 win at Fir Park in September, only for Thursday to bring their biggest win over their Lanarkshire rivals in 80 years, they have, after all, cultivated the happy knack of surprising even themselves and naturally there is a growing belief that they can do even better.

"The gaffer has said this group can achieve great things if we keep playing the way we're playing," Crawford continued.

"We're fourth at the moment, which is a great achievement for us after coming up through the play-offs and carrying on where we left off. It's been a great season so far.

"It would be a phenomenal achievement to get into Europe but we have to take each game as it comes and if it means that come the end of March, we are still in there fighting then it has to be a realistic target."

That, of course, is premised upon keeping at least the nucleus of this squad together.

"There has been speculation and rightly so," Crawford acknowledged.

"People should be looking at us because we're playing great football, but if anyone goes, there are other boys here who can come in. Against Motherwell, Eamonn Brophy, who is just a young boy, came on and scored, but if we can try to keep the squad together, there is a good chance of pushing for Europe."

He, too, knows the score of course.

"At the end of the day it is up to the club if someone comes in for me or any other boys. They need to accept the offer. I don't think about that - all I'm thinking of is the next game against St Johnstone and we need to carry on the way we are playing."

Of course if the club survives this particular transfer window relatively unscathed this group of players could provide themselves with some difficult decisions during future ones, as Crawford agreed when asked whether qualification for Europoean competition might tempt some to consider staying around.

"Obviously it would, yes," he said.

"None of us have played in Europe before and it would be a great incentive for all of us to stay and carry on our futures at Hamilton."

They may want to consider, too, whether any of them will ever enjoy playing football as much as they are clearly doing right now.