Hamilton Academical 0-2 Livingston: Rice says 'heart' of his team has been 'ripped out'

Hamilton Academical head coach Brian Rice says his side "can't cope" with their injury crisis after they fell to a Scottish Premiership defeat against Livingston.

Jon Guthrie's header and Josh Mullin's free-kick secured a comfortable win for the visitors.

Hamilton, who failed to register a shot on goal and remain 11th, were without weekend goalscorers Ross Callachan and Scott Martin.

"It's difficult for us," said Rice.

"The heart of my team was ripped out. I'm missing nine first team players. Seven of them are starters.

"We're scraping the barrel. Tonight [Wednesday] you saw that we really did miss key, key players."

After four consecutive wins as interim boss, the victory is David Martindale's first as Livingston's permanent head coach and leaves his side in seventh.

It is the first time since October 2003 they have won back-to-back away games in Scotland's top tier.

• Reaction & as it happened

Rice was dealt a blow in his preparations with both Callachan and Martin - goalscorers in Saturday's win against Ross County - ruled out.

And the hosts started like a side missing two integral midfielders as they were second best throughout.

The visitors almost made their early dominance count as Alan Forrest's ball from the left was flicked just past the near post by Scott Pittman.

The hosts just could not deal with cross balls as Mullin then delivered a dangerous ball of his own to Scott Robinson, but his glancing header came down off the crossbar before being cleared.

Mullin then found Robinson again with another cross from the right, but instead of going for goal at the back post the forward decided to head across goal to no avail.

Mullin's delivery continued to threaten as David Moyo almost diverted a cross from the former County man into his own net before Guthrie somehow diverted wide from close range from the corner.

However, the centre-back would make amends early in the second half as Jason Holt's ball from the left dropped to the stand-in captain, who headed home from close range at the back post.

Hamilton showed no signs of a revival as Livingston continued to dominate, with Forrest having two efforts in quick succession go wide before Robinson had a one-on-one saved by Kyle Gourlay, who came on for the injured Ryan Fulton.

A 1-0 win would have flattered Rice's men, and going into the closing stages it looked like that would be the case until Mullin guided a fine free-kick past Gourlay into the top-right corner.

Man of the match - Josh Mullin

The 28-year-old's delivery terrified the Hamilton backline throughout and he rounded off an impressive display with a fine free-kick to seal the win

What did we learn?

Rice said post-match that the "heart has been ripped out" his team, and with both Callachan and Martin missing that was evident.

However, the Hamilton head coach cannot afford to be too reliant on one or two individuals, and needs a response from players who come into the side if they are to guide themselves to safety.

As for Livingston, they have established themselves as a Premiership club in the past two seasons with their impressive home form, but the away performances have always been an issue.

However, Martindale has guided his players to consecutive away wins in the top flight for the first time since 2003.

What they said

Hamilton Academical head coach Brian Rice: "When things go against you, they go against you. Some of the lads tonight were given a chance to stake a claim, and I'm really disappointed in them. I've told them that."

Livingston head coach David Martindale: "I can't take a lot of the credit for this, the boys have been magnificent. Tonight, the gameplan came together very nicely.

"I was really pleased how the boys managed the game. It was a very, very good performance. The boys have bought into everything we're trying to do. It's all positive just now."

What's next?

Both sides resume league action on Boxing Day as Hamilton welcome Celtic (15:00 GMT) and Livingston travel to Kilmarnock (15:00).