Today we welcome Alex Neil, Frankie McAvoy and the Hamilton squad to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium. Strangely enough, thanks to the weather, this is the first time we’ve played host to Hamilton this season despite only having six league fixtures left to play. Infact, it’s over a year since Hamilton last made the trip to Livingston, where they recorded a 4-0 victory back in March 2012.
They pushed on from that win to clinch a fourth place finish last season, one place above us, and many thought the Accies would be one of the sides battling it out up the top this season, looking for a return to the SPL.
That hasn’t proved to be the case though and at time of print, Hamilton sit in 7th place, having only recently pulled away from the relegation places with three wins in their last four outings.
A slow start to the season meant it was October before the Accies registered their first win in the league, a 4-0 success away to Airdrie. However, this was quickly forgotten as back-to-back home defeats followed against ourselves and Raith Rovers.
Into November and, the since departed, Billy Reid seemed to have been getting more out of his players – so much so that he was awarded the manager of the month award for November. An impressive 1-0 win away to Morton was outdone by an even more impressive victory at home to league leaders Partick Thistle. The game, played on a Friday night as part of the SFL Friday night football trial, was watched by a season high 2,450 spectators and an Ali Crawford goal direct from a corner kick was enough to secure three home points for the first time this season.
It looked like a clean sweep of November wins were on the cards the following week as Hamilton led Falkirk by a goal to nil going into the last ten minutes at the Falkirk Stadium but strikes from Conor McGrandles and Lewis Small meant the Accies managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
December didn’t start until the 15th for Hamilton due to the weather pulling the plug on a couple of scheduled games before then but seven points from a possible nine ended the year on a high.
Since the turn of the year, it’s fair to say that their results under Billy Reid had been average across the board. From fourteen league ties in 2013, the Accies have won five, lost five and drew four. That sort of form represents the league position of seventh that Hamilton currently occupy – not good enough for a title push but no bad enough for a relegation scrap.
With that in mind, many were surprised by the announcement last week that the club had parted company with Reid, with the official statement saying that both Reid and the Club were in need of a fresh challenge.
With that news coming less than 24 hours after the Accies had just secured a big win away to Dumbarton, it was left to Neil and McAvoy to take the side to East End Park last Saturday where they fought back to grab a fine 3-2 win over the depleted Fife club.
As it stands, the duo are only in place until the end of the season but they could put themselves in the frame for the job on a long-term basis with a strong end to the season, starting with back-to-back wins over us in the next few days.
It was a mixed bag of results when the sides met on five occasions last season - four times in the league and of course the Ramsdens Cup semi-final at New Douglas Park. Two wins each and a draw sums up how close the sides were, aswell as the fact only a point split us come the end of the season. A 2-1 Livi win and a 1-1 draw at NDP earlier in the season were both just as close so another tight encounter is expected here today.
Dave Black.
As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.
They pushed on from that win to clinch a fourth place finish last season, one place above us, and many thought the Accies would be one of the sides battling it out up the top this season, looking for a return to the SPL.
That hasn’t proved to be the case though and at time of print, Hamilton sit in 7th place, having only recently pulled away from the relegation places with three wins in their last four outings.
A slow start to the season meant it was October before the Accies registered their first win in the league, a 4-0 success away to Airdrie. However, this was quickly forgotten as back-to-back home defeats followed against ourselves and Raith Rovers.
Into November and, the since departed, Billy Reid seemed to have been getting more out of his players – so much so that he was awarded the manager of the month award for November. An impressive 1-0 win away to Morton was outdone by an even more impressive victory at home to league leaders Partick Thistle. The game, played on a Friday night as part of the SFL Friday night football trial, was watched by a season high 2,450 spectators and an Ali Crawford goal direct from a corner kick was enough to secure three home points for the first time this season.
It looked like a clean sweep of November wins were on the cards the following week as Hamilton led Falkirk by a goal to nil going into the last ten minutes at the Falkirk Stadium but strikes from Conor McGrandles and Lewis Small meant the Accies managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
December didn’t start until the 15th for Hamilton due to the weather pulling the plug on a couple of scheduled games before then but seven points from a possible nine ended the year on a high.
Since the turn of the year, it’s fair to say that their results under Billy Reid had been average across the board. From fourteen league ties in 2013, the Accies have won five, lost five and drew four. That sort of form represents the league position of seventh that Hamilton currently occupy – not good enough for a title push but no bad enough for a relegation scrap.
With that in mind, many were surprised by the announcement last week that the club had parted company with Reid, with the official statement saying that both Reid and the Club were in need of a fresh challenge.
With that news coming less than 24 hours after the Accies had just secured a big win away to Dumbarton, it was left to Neil and McAvoy to take the side to East End Park last Saturday where they fought back to grab a fine 3-2 win over the depleted Fife club.
As it stands, the duo are only in place until the end of the season but they could put themselves in the frame for the job on a long-term basis with a strong end to the season, starting with back-to-back wins over us in the next few days.
It was a mixed bag of results when the sides met on five occasions last season - four times in the league and of course the Ramsdens Cup semi-final at New Douglas Park. Two wins each and a draw sums up how close the sides were, aswell as the fact only a point split us come the end of the season. A 2-1 Livi win and a 1-1 draw at NDP earlier in the season were both just as close so another tight encounter is expected here today.
Dave Black.
As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.
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