Tuesday 28th August, 2012 at 8:53pm
Although it was inevitable that we would suffer a defeat at some point, that fact didn’t lessen the pain of losing to Hamilton in the Scottish Communities League Cup on Tuesday night. It was a naturally bitterly disappointed Jackie McNamara that [link:HOME] spoke to after the game.
“I don’t think that we deserved that. I thought that we were the better team. Their goalkeeper had a good night and it just wasn’t our night in front of goal. It’s disappointing to lose but it did take something special to beat us. I can’t fault the players for effort and the desire was there but it just wasn’t our night. Our goalkeeper has hardly had anything to do all night apart from pick one out the net and that’s very frustrating.”
“I didn’t think that we started the game that well. After the first 5 or 10 minutes though I thought that there was only one team in the game. Second half we were guilty of not passing the ball as well as we did in the first half and were a little bit too direct in how we played at times. First half we were creating chances by passing and moving. We’re disappointed but we just need to get our heads up and look forward to Saturday now. It’s a massive game for us and we need to make sure that we go about things in the right way. ”
Jackie continued;
“We would like to have done well in this competition. The league is perhaps more important long term but this was a tie that I was really looking to get through. I feel for the fans who were fantastic tonight. They gave us great support throughout the game and it would have been nice to able reward them by getting through and getting a good tie in the next round. It wasn’t to be though and we need now to focus on Saturday’s game. With the game going into extra-time there is sure to be some tired legs but we’ll start preparing for it on Thursday.”
Hamilton manager Billy Reid was naturally a bit more upbeat after the game.
“It was a tough game and Thistle are a good side. You can see why they had won six games on the bounce. They play 4-3-3, have legs all over the park and two full-backs who really bomb on . We are a young side and a big difference for me was the fact that I had my captain Alex Neil on the park for 90 minutes. We’re trying to find a bit of stability and I’m missing my experienced players on the park. The young players need the likes of Alex Neil out on the park. We played him at the back tonight and I thought he was outstanding.”
“The goal that won the game was fit to win any game and the finish was absolutely sublime. I can’t ask any more of our young squad. They dug really deep tonight . 120 minutes with a clean sheet is a big step in the right direction. We’re looking for league points now and we know that Saturday’s game is going to be tough, the players have played 120 minutes at a decent pace, but we’ll just pick ourselves up and go again.”
