ALEX NEIL believes Louis Longridge, the forward he picked up from amateur side Harmony Row two years ago, is a potential match-winner in today's Championship top-of-the-table match against Dundee at New Douglas Park.
A home win would open a three- point gap on Paul Hartley's men.
"Can Louis Longridge be a match- winner for us today? The answer to that one is yes, totally," said the Hamilton manager. "He is two-footed, totally committed and knows the way to goal and he is a very hard player to pin down because he has a tremendous appetite for work.
"His progress here at Accies has been excellent and he has been rewarded with a new two-year contract and I know how hungry he is to make the Premiership with Hamilton Academical."
Hamilton are winless and goalless in the three meetings between the clubs this season. An opening 0-0 draw on Tayside was followed by a 3-0 home defeat and a 1-0 loss back up at Dens Park. But the pragmatic Neil has no doubt about how he expects today's tussle to pan out.
"Dundee are very solid defensively and I expect them to sit in and look to hit us on the counter. The key for us will be to make sure we look after the ball and make the most of our possession. I don't expect any of the past three games between us this season to have any bearing on today's game.
"We have scored 11 goals in our last four games and we are playing with real belief and that must be reflected in this afternoon's match. But regardless of the outcome, I do not expect it to decide the outcome of the Championship.
"There are four games to come after today and the Championship is a league in which you can drop points against any side. That said, if we can get the win, it will put the pressure all on Dundee."
Hartley is aware of that pressure and admits his players' nerves will be tested just as much as their skill this afternoon.
"It's about bottle and keeping your nerve. They're all big games when you reach this stage of things and it's the kind of games players want to play in. We are looking forward to it. Hamilton are tough opponents but we will try to look after ourselves first and foremost.
"Our fans are going there in great numbers and it would be nice to give them something to shout about. We know what Hamilton's strengths and weaknesses are so it's up to us to go there and try to win the game."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article