A STUNNING first-half strike from George Oakley and a goal on the counter from Mickel Miller gave Hamilton three golden points in their battle to beat relegation from the Premiership as manager Brice Rice hailed his heroes last night.

Accies were no shrinking violets and displayed no after-effects of their weekend thumping by Rangers.

Instead, they produced an excellent first half followed by stoicism and courage in the second phase as the Dons the caution to the wind.

Oakley’s goal, in 34 minutes, was hit from the bye-line, 15 yards from Joe Lewis’s net and he looked as surprised as the hosts' keeper that it flew into the net.

“George will say that he’s meant the goal,” Rice said. “And when I watched it back afterwards I think he has meant it. And if he has then fair play.

‘I thought he was magnificent tonight. I remember Alan Hansen saying Liverpool’s best defenders were Dalglish and Rush. I’m not comparing my front two to Dalglish and Rush but their work rate tonight played a big part in our win.

‘It’s a massive result for us and the clean sheet is very important too. Aberdeen hemmed us in for the last 20 minutes but we coped.

"Hopefully this is a springboard for us. I’m just delighted.

“The performance was very good. It was everything I asked of the boys after Sunday.

Aberdeen are a good team and a strong team but I” told my boys to be brave on the ball.

“We looked a real threat on the break and a clean sheet up here is a marvellous achievement for us.

“It was great to bounce back after Sunday. Rangers inspired me on Sunday, how hard they worked, the angles they made. We went in on Monday and worked away and tonight we got our rewards.”

The hosts, predictably, pummelled their opponents seeking parity, but they were undone by sloppy defending as Lenny Sowah broke down the left and, as his low cross found acres of penalty box space, Miller ran in to slot the ball home.

There was still half an hour to play and while Aberdeen pressed them hard, stoic defending saw Accies through, despite the home side hitting the woodwork three times during the game, through Greg Stewart, Sam Cosgrove and Dom Ball.

But the visitors’ resolve was exemplary and their attitude precisely what was required in the circumstances.

“It was a bad night at the office,” Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager admitted. “But I have to praise Hamilton for their part in the match. They played well. The team that had more aggression won. We had enough chances to win the match but the goals we lost were disappointing. I felt we lacked confidence and we lacked aggression.

“It’s a reminder to our players that you can’t win a game just based on your quality. Thereare so many other factors involved.

“Our home form is not good just now and there’s no doubt it has to improve.

"Six years ago when I came here there were issues with playing at home but we resolved them. I can’t put my finger on why our home form is not good. But the bottom line is you can’t achieve what you want to achieve if your home form is not good.”

McInnes’s men face Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Pittodrie on Sunday knowing they have to shake themselves free from their current home form “If we want to get into a semi- final then the level of our performance needs to be higher against Rangers and we will need more aggression.

“The game on Sunday will demand more aggression but tonight’s game against Hamilton demanded more aggression from us too but it was not there.”