GEORGE Oakley says that he is the man who can score the goals to save Hamilton from relegation after the striker’s double sank St Johnstone on Wednesday night.
The win, which was new head coach Brian Rice’s first as a boss in his own right, moved Hamilton six points clear of bottom side St Mirren and three ahead of Dundee in the play-off position.
The man brought in by Rice on deadline day from Inverness believes that all the pieces are now in place for Accies to go on and pull further away from the relegation dog-fight, and he is hoping his goals will be integral to doing just that.
"That's what I have come to do,” Oakley said. “Every striker that's what you have to do. It is your job and that is what I am out there to do.
"You are put up the top end of the pitch to score goals and that is what you are judged on.
"I can't just take the credit for the two goals as the whole team earned the result.
"If you ask all of the boys they will tell you that there is a lot more positivity around the camp since the new manager came in.
"You have to thrive under pressure. The gaffer is big on putting pressure on ourselves.
"He has told us not to fear anything and go out there and be positive about everything. That is the positive way I am approaching every game in my head.
"People asked me why did I come here to be part of a relegation battle when I was challenging for promotion with Inverness? I have come here to play under a manager that is going to push all of us. I have come here to play games and prove myself and help the team.
"The manager is demanding a lot off us to win games and we were dead on our feet at the end of the St Johnstone match because of the effort we put in.”
Oakley previously worked with Rice when the pair were at Inverness together, so it is no surprise to him to see the positive impact that the 55-year-old has had at Hamilton in his short time at the club.
And he is glad that Rice has finally taken the plunge to be his own man after so long as an assistant manager.
"I've known him for over a year and he worked really closely with me when I joined Inverness,” he said.
"In that year I knew he had the qualities to be a manager in his own right. It was just down to him wanting to be a manager.
"The job involves a lot of pressure, but he has come in and put smiles on faces and that is all he wants to do, and if we can get that right then we can win football matches
"Brian looked after me as I was 21 when I joined Inverness and he saw what I had, and he developed my game a lot. That is the reason he has brought me to the team as he knows what I can do.
"He loves hard working people and all the players at Hamilton work their socks off.
"He has style that he wants us to play and we are going out and attacking teams now and we have gained a draw and a win in his first two matches and that is positive.
"We just need to keep that going until the end of the season.”
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