ABERDEEN have learned to dread their visits to New Douglas Park – and not just because of the M74 works.
So little change do Aberdonians tend to get from their visits to Hamilton – it is now just one win in six – that you wonder why it is they who have the reputation for miserliness.
So it was again on Tuesday night, when judging by the Craig Brown corner method, they would have ran out 21-0 winners. Fifteen shots to three also rained in, but the only vital statistic which mattered was Mikey Devlin’s ninth minute goal for the Accies.
What it all meant was the Pittodrie side spurning a glorious opportunity to extend their advantage on Rangers in second place in the Premiership, with further collateral damage being the injuries sustained on the artificial surface to Mark Reynolds and Ryan Jack.
While the former appears to have developed a hernia which will keep him out of a month or so, Jack has a high ankle strain that will require some recuperation time too.
As the squad made their weary way back north, licking their wounds before Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter final against Partick Thistle, suffice to say that Graeme Shinnie was as baffled as everyone else about how New Douglas Park had cast the Pittodrie side in its spell once again.
“I can’t remember playing in a match like that before,” said Shinnie. “We lost the goal early on and with Hamilton fighting at the bottom of the table, it was exactly what they would have wanted. They defended for their lives like we knew they would.
“But I thought we did more than enough in the game and created a lot of chances,” he added. “Although there was some bad play on our part not to have more composure in those areas, it was just one of those nights when it wouldn’t fall for us. We probably deserved to win, let alone a draw.”
As frustrating as the result was, the Pittodrie side retain a healthy cushion on Rangers in the race for second and what better way to get a result like that out the system than in a home Scottish Cup quarter final?
Rather than basking in the limelight of their BetFred Cup final appearance earlier in the season, this group of players instead feel they have some making up to do from a rather insipid performance against Celtic when they got there.
“We were disappointed by how we performed in the cup final - I don’t think we played anywhere near as well as we could,” said Shinnie, also a Scottish Cup winner with Inverness.
“While it was good to get there it is always disappointing when you don’t win.
“The appetite and hunger is there from the fans to the players and everyone else at the club. So Sunday is a massive game and a good opportunity to get into the semi-finals.
“With the run we have been on, we wanted to keep the momentum going,” he said. “We have slipped up so we need to get the train back going and back to winning ways.”
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