Hamilton Academical 0-0 Kilmarnock

Hamilton lost their place at the top of the Scottish Premiership following a sluggish stalemate with Kilmarnock.

Visiting goalkeeper Craig Samson had to keep out long-range efforts by Stephen Hendrie and Tony Andreu before the interval.

Kilmarnock improved in the second half, with Josh Magennis heading wide.

Accies keeper Michael McGivern pushed away a Sammy Clingan free kick and the home keeper made a good block at the feet of Rory McKenzie.

Hamilton manager Alex Neil included himself in his starting line-up, having been forced to make four changes, and he was influential as the hosts dominated midfield in the first half.

Andreu drilled an early shot narrowly wide of the far post but, for all of their neat passing, Accies were largely confined to long-range shots.

Samson pushed away decent efforts from distance from Hendrie, Andreu and Ali Crawford, and he also reacted well to grasp the ball after Neil headed it into the path of Jason Scotland.

Kilmarnock improved after the break and began to force some chances of their own.

McGovern needed to be quick off his line to stop Magennis capitalising on a loose ball after Jamie Hamill won a crunching challenge with Neil.

Magennis then outmuscled Ziggy Gordon on the right-hand side and cut into the box, but McGovern was off his line to block the shot.

Crawford and Sammy Clingan had free-kicks saved at either end before McGovern saved the hosts again following a sublime pass from substitute Alexei Eremenko.

The Finn put McKenzie through with an inch-perfect pass inside left-back Hendrie but McGovern narrowed the angle quickly and blocked the shot with his body.

Hamilton rallied in the closing stages but substitute Darren Lyon and Crawford could not trouble Samson with long-range efforts and they left the field to discover that Inverness had replaced them at the top of the table.