Hibernian 1-3 Hamilton Academical
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Hamilton ended Hibernian's bright start to the season with a deserved win.
In a sluggish first half, Hibs' Simon Murray headed wide and Danny Swanson had a piledriver saved by Accies' Gary Woods, while Ofir Marciano saved well from Greg Docherty and Ali Crawford.
Rakish Bingham slotted home a penalty before Louis Longridge seized on a Paul Hanlon error for the visitors' second.
Bingham's calm finish for Hamilton's third was the pick of the goals before Anthony Stokes' last-gasp consolation.
The large home crowd were in expectant mood after their side recorded victories in their opening two league fixtures, but a well-disciplined Hamilton side were rarely threatened.
Indeed, it was Accies who had the best of the early chances when Bingham latched on to a long ball but his attempted lob drifted over Marciano and the crossbar.
The Hibernian strikeforce of Stokes and Murray were dropping deeper to try to find space, but more often than not were outnumbered as they struggled to find a clear route to goal. Murray had a header that drifted wide of goal and Steven Whittaker had a net-bound shot blocked by Hamilton midfielder Dougie Imrie.
On the stroke of half-time, only a wonder save by Marciano from a great run and shot by Crawford kept the home goal intact as frustration began to creep into the home fans.
Hamilton, though, came out the traps quickly and duly took the lead after some inept defending by the home side. Docherty with his back to goal was bundled to the ground by Darren McGregor, with referee Steven McLean instantly pointing to the spot.
Bingham stepped up and hammered the ball low beyond the diving Marciano.
Hibs head coach Neil Lennon introduced Brandon Barker, signed on loan from Manchester City on Friday, along with Lithuania midfielder Vykintas Slivka.
However, Hamilton continued to push forward and only the crossbar denied Longridge from eight yards - though the small band of Hamilton fans who had made the trip along the M8 did not have long to wait for their side's second goal.
Hibernian defender Hanlon looked to have an easy task in clearing at the edge of the penalty box but inexplicably played the ball into the path of Longridge and the Hamilton substitute slid the ball beyond Marciano.
If the first two Hamilton goals can be put down to defensive errors, number three was a thing of beauty - a wonderful sweeping move with one-touch football involving Longridge and Crawford finished off by Bingham.
Hibernian scored a consolation goal in stoppage time when Stokes fired home from the edge of the six-yard box but all the plaudits should go the way of Accies after a magnificent performance.
Post-match reaction:
Hibs head coach Neil Lennon: "We have had a brilliant start to the season, and a lot of nice things said about us, and it's a dose of reality.
"We looked very tired at the end, but that is mental, rather than physical.
"I'm bitterly disappointed with my team's performance. The better team won today. They defended better than us."
Hamilton boss Martin Canning: "I believed we could come here and get a result. We were a bit defensively naive last week but I thought defensively the boys were excellent today.
"Scott McMann is getting better and better week on week. Hopefully he can continue to develop and believe in himself.
"I thought to a man everyone was excellent. In the first half we limited Hibs to very little and the second half was excellent, a really top performance.
"That is probably as complete a performance as there has been in my time here. The third goal was different class - it is great to see them playing with freedom and enjoyment."
- Published20 August 2017
- Published19 August 2017