Hamilton Academical 1-0 Ross County

Dougie Imrie's second-half goal gave Hamilton Academical their first Scottish Premiership win of the season against Ross County.

Andrew Davies nodded against the crossbar as County threatened early in the match.

Another header, by Michael Gardyne, was kept out superbly by Accies goalkeeper Remi Matthews and the save prompted the attack that gave Hamilton the lead.

The hosts countered and Imrie clipped the ball past Scott Fox.

Imrie keeps delivering

With playmaker Ali Crawford sidelined after suffering a concussion in training on Friday, more pressure was on 33-year-old Dougie Imrie to provide the attacking spark.

And he did that, squeezing in his first goal in the league this season and fourth overall from a few yards out.

Danny Redmond's introduction almost led to more Accies goals as he played in Eamonn Brophy and Imrie again, but County goalkeeper Scott Fox was equal to their efforts.

Imrie (centre) started his second spell with Hamilton in 2014

MacKinnon a crucial cog

Hamilton's midfield has been boosted by former Celtic and Bari man Massimo Donati, but there was an equally effective performance by a less glamorous grafter in the shape of ex-Clydebank player Darian MacKinnon.

The 30-year-old is approaching the 150-appearance mark for Accies since joining from the junior ranks in 2012 and excels against teams with Ross County's physicality.

MacKinnon defied any notion that his sole purpose is breaking up the play, though.

On several occasions the midfielder - flanked by impressive youngster Greg Docherty, Gramoz Kurtaj - was a crucial cog in starting or continuing counter attacks.

Mackinnon (left) excelled in Hamilton's midfield

County's forwards starved

Each of County's main strikers - Liam Boyce, Craig Curran and Alex Schalk - had scored already this term and manager Jim McIntyre said pre-match that he expected that to continue in South Lanarkshire if the supply was right.

When Davies' header from Martin Woods' corner hit the crossbar after just two minutes, it looked like finding the back of the net would not be a problem.

But the supply line to the strikers appeared to be blocked as County struggled to create chances from that point forward.

Gardyne's header was well saved by Hamilton keeper Matthews in what was the Dingwall men's other clear-cut opportunity.

Manager reaction

Accies player-manager Martin Canning: "Today was justification for the players in that if you continue to put that work in and be brave, then you'll win games.

"Greg Docherty and Darian MacKinnon in the middle of the park were excellent - they go through some amount of work. They covered every blade of astro-turf. Massimo Donati was excellent dropping in and helping the two centre-backs as well.

"Every week Dougie Imrie works his socks off and it's nice to see guys like him getting the reward. Guys like him are priceless."

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre: "Our quality just wasn't as good as it normally is on the ball. We didn't handle the surface particularly well.

"It was one of those days when you're scratching your head at times with some poor decision-making from us.

"You always want to go into the international break off the back of a positive result and unfortunately we're going in with a defeat. But we'll use the break to re-group."