Hamilton midfielder Grant Gillespie says that Hamilton have proved they are Lanarkshire’s top team, as they once again put Motherwell to the sword at New Douglas Park.
Gillespie couldn’t hide his delight for the Accies fans after Dougie Imrie’s header 18 minutes from time gave Hamilton a fifth win in six against their near neighbours.
He insists that for Martin Canning’s players, it’s just another game, but he found it hard to contain his satisfaction at putting one over a disappointing Motherwell outfit yet again.
“Motherwell finished second or third for a few seasons in a row, but we weren’t in the league at that time,” he said.
“Since we’ve come up they’ve been big games. Motherwell are a bigger club, but that doesn’t mean they are a better team. It’s up to us to go out and prove that we’re the better team, and I think we’ve done that over the last 6 games, losing only one, so I think that shows if we play to our best then we’re the better side.
“I’m sure for a few years the fans would have been thinking ‘there’s Motherwell finished second again’ and been disappointed, but all they need to look at is the recent results.
“It’s just another game for us, and every team that comes here our objective is to beat them, that’s what we’re paid to do, win football matches, whether it’s Motherwell, Celtic or Dundee United.
“If we play to our potential I’m sure we can beat most teams that come here.
“We just look at it as another match and another team to go out and beat.
“This week it was Motherwell, and we went out knowing that if we played to our potential then we were confident we would win the game.
“The first 15-20 minutes we maybe weren’t at our best, but after that I thought we controlled the game.
“We were confident that we would get the victory because we were the better team throughout apart from that first 20 minutes or so when we weren’t as sharp as we could have been.
“We grew into the game though and we were in the ascendency, so I think we deserved to win the game.
“I’m delighted for Dougie to get his goal because he works hard, and I’m delighted for the fans that they can go away with the bragging rights again from the derby.”
The win for Hamilton was all the more impressive given that Martin Canning’s game-plan was thrown into disarray even before kick-off.
Defender Jesus Garcia Tena had to be dropped to the bench after becoming stuck in traffic on the way to the game, forcing a defensive reshuffle.
Young right-back Darren Lyon came in, with Ziggy Gordon moving into the centre, but they coped admirably with the admittedly sporadic Motherwell attacks.
“We’ve got capable players to come in,” Gillespie said.
“Darren Lyon slotted in at right-back and did very well, so it never really crossed any of our minds and we know that everyone here is capable of coming in and doing a job.
“We were still out doing our warm-up when Jesus arrived so we didn’t know he was here until ten minutes before kick-off. No one really said anything but I’m sure a few of the boys might try to get him fined in the morning!”
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