Hamilton 0-3 Aberdeen: Sam Cosgrove hits double as Dons join Rangers in third

The outcome was hardly surprising in a meeting between two teams with such sharply contrasting fortunes but Aberdeen moved level on points with third-placed Rangers with the win and they now travel to Rugby Park on Saturday to meet Kilmarnock, poised precariously just two points above them.
Sam Cosgrove celebrates netting his second goal against Hamilton. Picture: SNS GroupSam Cosgrove celebrates netting his second goal against Hamilton. Picture: SNS Group
Sam Cosgrove celebrates netting his second goal against Hamilton. Picture: SNS Group

Hamilton’s decline, though, is beginning to look irreversible. They have now won just one of their last 11 home games, losing nine of them. They have also lost more goals than any other Premiership club in front of their own supporters and the dwindling band of Accies enthusiasts made their displeasure felt.

It is difficult to see how or when Hamilton will turn the corner. They face Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday and then have a must-win clash with second-bottom Dundee, who trail them by a solitary point, the following weekend.

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This is Hamilton’s fifth successive season in the top tier – a club record – but they are without a home win since November 3 and this squad does not look strong enough to stretch that sequence to six.

Aberdeen started sluggishly and they were almost caught out when Hamilton struck the woodwork in the ninth minute. Goalkeeper Joe Lewis had a major part to play in keeping his side level, throwing up his right hand to divert a netbound header by Matt Kiklgallon from Dougie Imrie’s inswinging corner on to the crossbar.

But the Dons then managed to establish a foothold in the game and it was no great surprise when they drew first blood, although their was an element of fortune about the breakthrough.

It ought to have been straightforward enough for Sam Cosgrove when Stevie May’s delivery found him unmarked six yards out and in the middle of the goal. However, the burly target man mistimed his header, which was heading wide until it rebounded back to him off Kilgallon.

Cosgrove then sliced his shot but he gained enough purchase on the ball to send it spinning into Ryan Fulton’s bottom left-hand corner for his tenth goal of the campaign.

It seemed unlikely that the hosts could mount a fightback but two goals in the space of a minute early in the second period put paid to any such notions.

Aaron McGowan believed he should have been awarded a penalty following Gary Mackay-Steven’s challenge but the claim was dismissed and the winger then released Cosgrove with a long ball. Ziggy Gordon, already cautioned, could not bring him down and the big Dons striker sidefooted the ball behind the advancing Fulton.

Bad soon turned to worse for the home side when former player Lewis Ferguson immediately bundled home a third after Cosgrove’s header from a May corner had been cleared off the line.

That concluded the scoring but Hamilton’s malaise continues.