Hamilton 0-1 St Mirren: Brian Rice 'very concerned' at Accies form

Brian Rice felt "aggrieved" and "very concerned" following Hamilton Academical's third straight Scottish Premiership loss against St Mirren.

Hamilton are on zero points with Aberdeen, who have played two games fewer, while St Mirren are fifth after their second win of the campaign.

Jon Obika turned in Richard Tait's cross to score the only goal at the Hope Stadium.

"I thought the goal was going to come," Rice told BBC Scotland.

• Reaction & as it happened

• How did the players rate?

"The second half - that's the kind of performance I'm after. I feel a wee bit aggrieved that we didn't get anything.

"When you don't win, it's very concerning, but all we can do now is prepare for next week against Motherwell."

Once again, St Mirren's defensive summer signings were to the fore with Marcus Fraser, Joe Shaughnessy and Tait making their mark - and not only in their own box.

Shaughnessy twice went close at corners and Fraser tried to emulate his fellow full-back's assist when he set up Junior Morias to scoop wide.

Hamilton's David Templeton and David Moyo had asked questions of Jak Alnwick in the opening period and the keeper had more to do early in the second when Ross Callachan burst forward to have a shot tipped over.

And St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin was delighted with his defence following a second 1-0 win in three games, with Alnwick drawing particular praise.

"I knew how difficult Vaclav Hladky was going to be to replace," Goodwin said. "Everybody knows how good Jak's distribution is. He can ping a ball here, there and everywhere better than some of the outfield players.

"But some of the shot-stopping saves he's made in the last three games have been outstanding. He's probably the form keeper in the league."

Man of the match - Joe Shaughnessy

With another assured performance, Shaughnessy is looking like one of the summer's best signings

What did we learn?

Switching from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 gave St Mirren more menace in attack than they had in either of their previous games.

The only concern for Goodwin will be the amount of chances they passed up during their dominant first half.

Templeton's return to the starting line-up improved Accies' guile in attacking areas for Rice's team.

But with only one goal from their opening three games, they need to start scoring soon or risk being isolated at the foot of the table

What did they say?

Hamilton head coach Brian Rice: "Second half was the best we've played this season. If we keep doing that, the goals will come.

"The pleasing thing is we kept going and we're making chances."

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: "We had six or seven very, very good opportunities. Thankfully we were able to take one of them.

"We could've certainly made life a whole lot more comfortable than what it ended up being."

What's next?

Hamilton travel to Motherwell next Saturday for the first Lanarkshire derby of the season while St Mirren will be at home to Ross County.