Struggling Aberdeen are next on Billy Reid's radar

Published on Monday 18 April 2011 18:28

Hamilton manager Billy Reid is hoping to rub salt in Aberdeen manager Craig Brown's Scottish Cup wounds by leading Accies to their first home win of the season.

A first victory at Easter Road in 25 years on Sunday saw Reid's men haul themselves to within nine points of St Mirren at the foot of the SPL with five games remaining and, while they remain overwhelming favourites to go down, the feeling at New Douglas Park is that the side is a great deal better than results have suggested.

Aberdeen are the visitors next Monday and Reid is optimistic of success over Brown for the second time this season.

Brown was in charge of Motherwell when Accies won at Fir Park in October - their previous most recent win prior to Sunday.

Reid is unsure if Aberdeen's run of five straight losses - including the 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic on Sunday - and one win in ten games is a benefit to his side, but he hopes to upset Hamilton-born Brown following three reverses to Aberdeen this season.

Reid said: "He's got a wee soft spot for Hamilton Accies, but at the end of the day he works for Aberdeen. He was delighted when they beat us in the last two games. Hopefully we can turn them over in this one. They're on a low at the moment, but I'm quite sure they'll be the same as everybody else and want to win their last five games.

"There's not much between the two teams and if we play to our potential we can win."

Key to Hamilton playing at their best, according to Reid, is captain Alex Neil. The 29-year-old, who is 5ft 7in, played in the centre of defence against Hibs and put in a commanding performance.

Neil has played under Reid since joining as a winger from Barnsley in 2005 but has played just six times this term due to a hip injury and his manager wondered what might have been if Neil had been fit for the full campaign.

"He's that good a player he can play anywhere," said Reid. "He's been out for a year and he's still influencing a game like that."

Like his manager, midfielder Dougie Imrie believes Hamilton were overdue the luck which came their way at Easter Road.

After Nigel Hasselbaink laid on the opening goal for James Chambers, Accies went 2-0 up when Akpo Sodje's header ricocheted in off Hibs team-mate Liam Miller.

Sodje pulled a goal back in the second half, but Accies survived late pressure from Hibs to hold on for all three points.

Imrie said: "We've played well all season and just not got the breaks. We were delighted to get the win and hopefully that kick-starts a wee run.

"I know we're struggling for games, but everyone's written us off and we'll just take one game at a time. We're not down yet."

Imrie said the fact Accies can play free of expectation can also be to their advantage.

He added: "The way it stands just now we're down. We just go out and play our football. Other teams need to go and win so we don't catch them - the pressure's not on us, the pressure's on everyone else."

For their part Hibs, who would have gone seventh with a win, endured a frustrating game and Ricardo Vaz Te was unhappy with his own performance.

The former Bolton forward, who signed a short-term deal last month, will wait until the end of the season to discover if he has a future at Easter Road, but he knows manager Colin Calderwood would not have been impressed by his performance.

Vaz Te said: "I'm very disappointed with my game in particular. I didn't get much on the ball and when I got it I didn't keep the ball, I kept losing it. Nothing was coming off, no end product whatsoever. I need to reflect on that and hopefully get better next time."