Reid hails Hamilton midfield duo as among the best in Scotland

HAMILTON boss Billy Reid reckons you'd be hard pushed to find two better midfielders in Scotland right now than James McArthur and Alex Neil – and he's hoping they can prove their class at Ibrox tomorrow night.

Hamilton were unlucky to lose to Rangers in their SPL clash on Saturday following a late strike from Nacho Novo, but have a chance for instant revenge when they take on Walter Smith's side again tomorrow in their Active Nation Scottish Cup fourth-round replay.

Reid insisted that his side were worth at least a point against Rangers at the weekend but believes that the tough time they gave their opponents shows how much progress the club have made over the last couple of seasons.

They more than held their own as Rangers struggled to find the breakthrough, but shot themselves in the foot by passing up any chances at goal they had themselves.

Reid has high hopes that Accies will rediscover their killer touch at Ibrox, though, and said: "Ibrox is a different venue altogether, Rangers are at home and it will be a difficult game. But the most important thing for me at this club is that we make progress and, playing against the Old Firm, we certainly are making progress.

"I think we play in the right manner and that is important for me, I want my players to get better and if we keep playing like that then they will get better.

"We try to get the ball down and play. At times in the SPL, it's not easy to do that, it becomes a battle. But, against the better teams, they allow you to play football and I think, over the two games against Rangers, we've certainly showed that."

Reid was delighted with the overall performance of his side and singled out Neil and McArthur for particular praise as they bossed the middle of the park, adding: "I think that Alex Neil was the best player on the park on Saturday and, along with James McArthur, if there are two better midfield players in Scotland then I would like to see them.

"The result was a sore one and the players were downbeat after the performance they put in. First half I thought that we controlled the game, passed the ball at every opportunity and should have been up at half time. I thought that we at least deserved a point and probably should have won the game.

"We had chances and didn't take them, on another day we might have got a break and they would have gone in."

Rangers were missing first-choice strike partnership of Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd because of suspension and injury respectively, so started with Novo and Kyle Lafferty up front and it was the little Spaniard, who proved the difference between the two sides.

Last week, Accies had pushed Rangers all the way in their 3-3 cup draw and they could have bagged an early opener this time around, only for Marco Paixao to head straight at keeper Allan McGregor after getting on the end of a Richard Hastings cross.

The Portuguese striker caused problems for Rangers throughout and just minutes after that chance he carved out an opening for Simon Mensing, but the big Englishman couldn't get a shot in on goal.

Steve Davis hit an effort wide just before the break to bring a disappointing end to the first half but the visitors threatened more after the turnaround.

While Mickael Antoine-Curier also probed the Ibrox side and looked dangerous on occasions, he could only fire into the side netting when he found space in the box midway through the second half and they were made to pay for passing up their opportunities when Rangers snatched the winner 12 minutes from time. John Fleck, who had come on to replace Kirk Broadfoot, unleashed a shot that Thomas Cerny could only parry and the loose ball fell to Novo, who turned it into the net from what seemed an impossibly tight angle.

The Ibrox hitman later dedicated the game's only goal to his new baby son, Javier, and said: "I was shattered by the end of the game because I have not had much sleep this week. I dedicated the goal to Javier and it was good to score such an important goal. I wanted to celebrate it in the right way."

Rangers manager Walter Smith agreed with Reid that Accies had been on top in the opening stages and said: "I felt it was a poor first-half performance from us. We didn't play well at all in the first half, Accies were the better side.

"We had one or two half-chances in that first half that we could've taken advantage of. But, overall, I was disappointed in the first-half performance.

"In the second half, we picked up a little bit and put Accies under a bit more pressure and created more opportunities. We got closer to them and found ourselves more in the game than we had in the first 45 minutes. Quite a number of our players are just coming back from injury, haven't played an awful lot of football recently and have been called upon to play on Saturday. We're delighted to get the win."