Hamilton 2-1 Hibs: Accies punish misfiring Hibs

HIBS relinquished their fine home form and the chance to leapfrog Inverness into seventh place as a poor first-half performance allowed Hamilton Academical to leave Easter Road with their first win in almost six months.

Accies were as bright as the sunshine that bore down on Leith, taking advantage of a sluggish start by the hosts to strike twice in the opening 35 minutes through James Chambers and a Liam Miller own goal. The visitors then survived a second half onslaught as Hibs hit back, but only Akpo Sodje could find a way past Accies goalkeeper Sean Murdoch - a late replacement for Tomas Cerny, sick during the warm-up - amid concerted pressure on the away side's goal.

Hamilton last won at Easter Road in November 1986 - the victory a quarter of a century ago signalling Accies' first ever win in the Scottish Premier League. Like many of the youthful Lanarkshire side's line-up, Nigel Hasselbaink was not even born then, but the young striker was an age quicker than Hibs centre back Francis Dickoh as he raced down the left after nine minutes to carve out the opening goal. The doggedness of the Dutchman took him past Dickoh after the two wrestled for possession, and upon reaching the byline on the corner of the six-yard box, Hasselbaink cut the ball back for the onrushing Chambers to sidefoot into the net.

Goalscorer Chambers split the home backline once more with a simple pass through to Hasselbaink on 16 minutes, but the latter's cushioned effort from eight yards out trundled wide of the right-hand post.

David Wotherspoon's delivery from wide areas would have been perfect ammunition for a less profligate Hibs attack, his outswinging corner from the left on 22 minutes finding the head of Dickoh but not a deserving finish as Murdoch got down well to save

Liam Miller's pinpoint delivery from the same flank five minutes later again found the head of the towering Hibs defender, but from closer range and with far more time to think about how and where to head the ball, Dickoh nodded over from four yards out at the far post.

Accies drew closer to the game's second goal on 31 minutes, as Lee Kilday headed Dougie Imrie's corner from the right onto the crossbar at the far post.

A couple of minutes later, with a helping hand from Hibs, the visitors doubled their advantage and had a rare victory and second-bottom-of-the-table St Mirren in their sights. Home forward Sodje, last weeks matchwinner at Pittodrie, met Accies' Ali Crawford's cross at the far side of his own box with a classic striker's header - powered downward back towards the middle of the box - and the ball ricocheted off team mate Liam Miller and flew past the ruck of Hibs defenders on the goalline.

That was Hamilton's final effort on target in the entire match, and from there Hibs persisted admirably in their quest to put push forward. Murdoch, though, watched one effort after another fail to hit the target. A long, searching pass by Miller dropped invitingly into the Hamilton penalty area for Riordan to chase, and after the Hibs striker latched onto it, he swivelled to hit the airborne ball from an acute angle narrowly over the bar and onto the roof of the net.

Booth's corner from the left moments later homed in on the head of Dickoh, who from ten yards out saw his effort crash off the crossbar with Murdoch beaten. The ball was quickly returned to Booth on the left of the 18-yard box, and his vicious high ball across the face of goal narrowly cleared the head of the lurking Derek Riordan two yards from goal.

Hibs boss Colin Calderwood introduced the attack-minded Martin Scott for Victor Palsson in a tactical switch at half time, but Scott failed to exert much impact on the game. The aerial threat of Dickoh and Sodje looked most likely to breach the Accies backline as Hibs applied concerted pressure on their opponents' goal after the break. The Lanarkshire side, meanwhile, appeared content to soak up attack after attack.

Miller's deep cross on 50 minutes from the outer right-hand corner of the Accies box found Riordan, and the Hibs No.?10 hit a half volley across goal only to see it touched away by Murdoch and bundled out for a corner by Simon Mensing.

Hibs' consolation came 15 minutes later. Booth's crossfield ball from the halfway line was hunted down by a perfectly-timed run from Sodje, the big striker beating both the Accies offside trap and visiting left-back David Buchanan to the ball. Sodje tapped the ball beyond the advancing Murdoch with his first touch before cutting the ball from 15 yards on the right-hand side of the box into the empty net.

Riordan was then put clean through after Mensing's stray pass by-passed the Accies defence, but a sprawling Murdoch emerged to tap the ball away from the striker's feet before he could shape to shoot. A minute later, Booth's cross into a busy box almost crept in at Murdoch's right-hand post but the goalkeeper scrambled across to push it away.

Hibs suffered a brief scare when Accies midfielder Gary McDonald was allowed a free header from a central position 12 yards out, but his glancing effort flew well wide of Mark Brown's left-hand post.

At the other end, Accies skipper Alex Neil miscontrolled Scott's ball forward on the edge of his box and from his subsequent challenge with Derek Riordan, the ball broke to Akpo Sodje, whose 20-yard first-time shot was deflected over the crossbar.

From the resulting corner on the left, Paul Hanlon's far post header was blocked by Accies substitute Grant Gillespie on the line. The ball broke back to Hanlon, but the Hibs skipper had similar luck with a second effort that was gathered by Murdoch.

Jim McAlister looked to have used his upper arm to control the ball in his own box at a corner, causing calls for a penalty from the home fans. Referee Brian Winter was the closest to the defender of anyone on the field and did not even feel the need to wave away the claims. Winter received more vigorous protests, not least from an incensed Riordan, when Booth's 20-yard effort after a jinking run appeared to meet the arm of an Accies defender.

Calderwood's reflection on the two incidents concurred with the referee's decision not to award Hibs a spot-kick. "You'll be very lucky if you get them, I think," said Calderwood. "You wouldn't want a penalty like that given against you. It seems a strong claim more the second one, but the first one definitely not. I haven't seen the second one, but I'd be surprised if it was a penalty."

Grant Gillespie, once more stationed on the Accies left-hand post at a corner, was again his side's saviour minutes later as he cleared Sodje's header from Miller's cross.

The Hibs manager vented his displeasure at his team's performance and urged his under-performing players to up their game for the visit of St Mirren this coming Sunday. "You're watching them in game situations and seeing what they produce," said Calderwood. "We hope to produce better - hopefully better than that."