A lot can happen in three minutes of fitba. Just ask Mickel Miller. In the space of a fraught 180 seconds, the Hamilton striker had given away the free-kick which spawned St Mirren’s equaliser, won a penalty at the other end and proceeded to skitter said spot-kick wide of the post.
It was an eventful old night and, in the end, a share of the spoils was about right. Ilkay Durmus provided St Mirren with some Turkish delight during a second-half showing that that was much improved from an opening period that had the locals regularly howling a withering profanity that sounded a bit like delight.
Durmus’ delightfully executed free-kick in 73 minutes cancelled out David Templeton’s opener but Miller’s fluffed penalty on 76 minutes had Hamilton thinking of what might have been.
“Mickel was obviously effected by that but that’s football,” said Guillaume Beuzelin, the Hamilton coach, of that eventful spell. “Mickel won the penalty but wasn’t supposed to take it. The taker, Templeton, was off the pitch unfortunately. He didn’t score it and that could have been a massive moment in the game and maybe our season too. But we’ll take a point because in the second half we weren’t good enough. Fair play to St Mirren as well. They stopped us playing in the second half.
Hamilton had been hit with an SFA charge earlier in the day after the weekend’s tussle with Celtic led to players from both sides “failing to act in an orderly fashion.” The opening to-ings and fro-ings here last night , meanwhile, saw the ball being battered about in a disorderly fankle as a stop-start, hither and yon pattern dominated the initial offerings.
Hamilton struck a telling blow on 25 minutes, however, as Templeton, in his second stint at the club, picked up the ball on the edge of the box and rattled in a cracking finish.
St Mirren hadn’t really been at the races but within seconds of falling behind they had a chance to level it up only for Durmus to flash a header wide.
Hamilton’s energy and endeavour continued to cause the hosts problems, though, and Marios Ogkmpoe arrowed in a searing strike that was as clean as a whistle but it shuddered the cross bar.
It was a major let off for St Mirren and, having enjoyed that good fortune, they were resurgent after the resumption. Jim Goodwin’s men carved out a variety of chances but couldn’t muster the clinical edge to polish them off. Durmus showed the way, though, after Ryan Flynn had been hacked down by Miller and he curled in a corker from the resulting free-kick. The joy was shortlived as Lee Hodson’s clumsy challenge on Miller led to a penalty. Miller’s subsequent effort from the spot to put Hamilton back in front was a dismal attempt and St Mirren heaved a great sight of relief.
“We rode our luck with the stupid penalty we gave away and thankfully they’ve not punished us for it,” said Goodwin, who is desperate to see his side convert their draws into victories. “It was the proverbial game of two halves. We were nowhere near good enough in the first half and showed large improvements in the second. We were lucky to come in just a goal down.
"But credit to the players, they showed character and got themselves back in it. We didn’t do the basics well enough tonight but we asked the boys to go and show more composure and play to the levels they are capable of. They did.”
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