Lanarkshire derby looming for Hamilton and Motherwell

Nov 4 2009 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

Derby battle looms for on-form ’Well and Accies

BOTH Motherwell and Hamilton have been boosted going into this weekend’s Lanarkshire derby clash after recording excellent victories last Saturday.

Despite struggling down in 11th place in the SPL, Accies recorded a morale boosting victory away to St Mirren on Saturday – a side that put six past Motherwell in their two league and cup encounters last week.

The Steelmen enter the first derby of the season having lost just one of their first ten SPL matches to date and they currently sit nine points above the New Douglas Park men in fourth position.

Last Saturday they continued their fine start to the league defeating Hearts 1-0 at Fir Park thanks to a superb Ross Forbes strike on 55 minutes.

However manager Jim Gannon insists he will not get carried away with their excellent campaign to date as he prepares to take his side to Hamilton in the final match of the first quarter of the season.

“I’ve learned when I take over a club to let other people set the expectations whether it be the bookies, pundits or fans,” the 41-year-old said.

“We always think if we come in and get things right we will see where that takes us.

“By and large we have a good group of players, some talented boys that we are trying to coach in the right way.”

He continued: “It is nice to have the number of points we have at this stage but there is a long way to go and there is a relentless process to go through in the season.

“All we want to be is as competitive as we can be and contribute to the excitement in the SPL and I think we are doing that.”

Gannon is expected to stick to the same 11 that performed so well against the Jambos with John Sutton and Lukas Jutkiewicz retaining their places up front having impressed together on Saturday.

Club captain Stephen Craigan is expected to remain on the sidelines as Gannon keeps faith with teenage duo Shaun Hutchison and Steven Saunders at the heart of his defence with Mark Reynolds continuing at left-back.

Meanwhile highly rated referee Craig Thomson will be the man in the middle at New Douglas Park.

The experienced whistler has been busy this season, taking charge of six SPL games, three League Cup games as well as Champions League games in Spain and Belgium.

Hamilton could welcome back long term injury absentee Alex Neil who has recently recovered from a hip operation.

The midfielder was expected to take part in a bounce game this week and a decision will be made on whether he is selected for Saturday’s squad later in the week.

Billy Reid’s side have improved over recent weeks after a poor start to the season and his players performed well against Celtic recently before losing 2-1.