Dundee 0-1 Hamilton: Martin Canning happy to reach Accies goal

Martin Canning (far right) has guided Hamilton to safety

Martin Canning was full of praise for his Hamilton players as they secured their Premiership status for next season by beating Dundee at Dens Park.

The Accies manager was particularly pleased with the manner in which his side responded after suffering a heavy defeat seven days earlier against Kilmarnock.

"The boys have worked ever so hard all season," said Canning.

"At the start of the season remaining in the Premiership was our goal."

Carlton Morris scored the only goal of the game in the eighth minute to claim Accies' third win in their last four matches.

It also means seven of their 11 league wins this season have been earned on their travels.

"After a poor performance and result last week I was delighted they were able to bounce back," said Canning.

"Particularly to put in a performance like that in a pressurised situation to go and get the result that we need to stay in the league.

"We've been good away from home for whatever reason, but winning games is the most important thing.

Hamilton's Ziggy Gordon celebrates at full-time

"The start was important, we had a bit of a dip and now we seem to be finishing the season relatively strongly again.

"We started the season really well and people were talking about top six, but we knew that start was going to be important to give us the platform to stay in the league and that was always the main aim - to make sure we got safe."

Dens Park manager Paul Hartley felt his side suffered an after effect of their exertions in winning the Dundee derby against United earlier in the week.

"It was a flat performance, it looked like we didn't have that spark today," said Hartley.

"I think Monday night took a lot out of us, we just didn't perform.

"We started the game very poorly, lethargic and slow. We didn't have the energy compared to Monday night and to be fair I don't think we deserved anything today."