JIMMY Greaves used to delight in telling us that "football's a funny old game" but even the irrepressible Greavsie would have trouble convincing the players and supporters of Hamilton Academical.

For them, a season that promised so much has become, at best, a sick joke and the latest punchline didn't exactly have them splitting their sides.

A goal up and apparently homing in on their first win in twelve games under the leadership of Martin Canning, their hopes were shattered in a few short minutes which saw them lose their player-manager to a debatable red card and an equaliser created by a player who was fortunate to have avoided a similar fate.

It spoke volumes about the spirit in the Hamilton camp that they were able to hang on for fully twenty minutes to earn what might yet prove to be an important point in their quest to finish in the top six.

Ali Crawford, who had given Accies an early lead, said ruefully: "They never created much until we lost the boss to be honest and a crucial moment in the game has not gone in our favour so after that we dug in and got a deserved point.

"I thought it (the red card) was harsh - I thought it was a yellow card at the most but I think before that Simon Lappin should have got another yellow card and been sent off so that's the way things go in games just now.

"At the end we got a point out of it.

"It shows the boys are there fighting for the gaffer. We dug in and ground out a point but we all know it should have been three. If the gaffer hadn't been sent off I think we'd have finished the game 1-0."

Hamilton settled any early nerves by opening the scoring on seven minutes when the Saints defence failed to deal with a cross and Crawford pounced to beat Alan Mannus from close range.

Apart from a Lappin shot which was cleared off the line soon after the break, St Johnstone posed little threat to the home defence but that was all to change after 58 minutes when Canning was late in a challenge on Michael O'Halloran who went tumbling to the ground.

Referee Greig Aitken might have shown a bit of discretion as he had a few moments earlier in opting against a second yellow card for Lappin.

Instead the whistler flashed red and Hamilton's day threatened to implode. Brian Graham immediately shaved a post with a header and, as the home defence continued to re-group following the departure of the influential Canning, he made no mistake with a second effort from Lappin's deep cross.

With the momentum having swung decisively in Saints' favour, a winner looked inevitable but it almost came for Hamilton when Nigel Hasselbaink raced through only to shoot narrowly wide while the visitors' closest effort saw Brian Easton head over deep in stoppage time.

Any further punishment would have been cruel on Accies and Crawford believes his team-mates can take heart from their performance and perhaps still clinch a top six place.

"We played well - first half especially. We had a good number of chances and probably should have been two-up. It's just unlucky today the way things turned out that we never got the three points.

"It would be hard (to miss out on the top six). We've put so much hard work into the first half of the season that to let it slip now would be disappointing.

"Obviously when the gaffer came in we thought our great run would continue and things would stay the same. That's not happened and the boys need to show good character and ability to finish as high as we possibly can.

"Hopefully we can go to Tannadice next week and take three points and hopefully other results will be in our favour."

While Hamilton may need a little assistance to achieve their goal, St Johnstone have their fate in their own hands and will be sure of a top six finish if they can win against Ross County tomorrow (Tue).

Lappin, while preaching the one-game-at-a-time mantra, did allow himself to contemplate the possibility of a European sojourn.

The former St Mirren and Norwich wing-back, who joined the Perth club after this season's Europa League campaign, admitted: "Playing in Europe is something I've never had and it's something I'd love to do.

"But we have to take it one game at a time and now it's all about going up to face Ross County on Tuesday which is going to be another tough one.

"You go into every game wanting three points and I think today after they went down to ten men there was only going to be one winner.

"Neutrals might say a draw was a fair result but not me."