Hamilton Academical 1-0 Aberdeen - BBC Sport
Mikey Devlin scores the winner as Hamilton climb to ninth in the Premiership with victory over Aberdeen.
Hamilton moved up to ninth in the Premiership with victory over Aberdeen.

Accies took the lead when Mikey Devlin stole in ahead of Ash Taylor to divert Danny Redmond's free-kick into the net from close range.

Adam Rooney almost brought the Dons level, his glancing header from Niall McGinn's cross coming back off a post.

Substitute Miles Storey had a goal ruled out for offside as Accies held on for the win despite a late red card for midfielder Darian MacKinnon.

The defeat sees Aberdeen remain nine points clear of third-placed Rangers having played a game more. Hamilton move off the bottom of the table and above Inverness CT, Motherwell and Ross County.

Hamilton stunned the Dons after just nine minutes with Devlin's first goal of the season, the defender getting a foot on the ball as the Aberdeen back-line hesitated and allowed him to prod the ball home.

Aberdeen started without Johnny Hayes, a shock absentee whose hamstring problem could also keep him out of the weekend Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle.

But they responded in positive fashion. Rooney rattled Gary Woods' left post with a header, McGinn flashed a shot across the goal and the same player landed a free-kick on top of the net.

Despite being a goal down they dominated play throughout the half, but just couldn't get the ball in the net.

The pressure on Hamilton was incessant but what you do have to say is that their defending was courageous.

And their spirits were lifted by the appearance off the bench of their marquee player Ali Crawford after a five-game absence through injury.

Devlin made an incredible goal-saving header over his own bar before Rooney failed to put away a Kenny McLean cross. Still the Alamo-like performance by the home team went on.

Even when sub Storey had the ball in the net Accies were saved by the offside flag.

And then Hamilton's luck seemed to change.

Two yellow cards within a minute meant a red for MacKinnon - the second a particularly reckless challenge - and suddenly for the last six minutes the home team were down to ten men.

But incredibly, despite conceding 20 corner kicks and winning not a single one themselves, they held out for a quite astonishing and vitally important win.

Hamilton manager Martin Canning: "Obviously in the first half we get our opportunity and we take it. Probably in the game we had four or five breakaways when we could have done better with the final pass.

"In the main it was backs to the wall, Aberdeen are a top team, so we knew they were going to be on the front foot. But with the situation we are in, everybody's got to fight, they've got to brave and throw their bodies on the line. Everything I'd want to see from the team, and I have seen it all season to be honest, was there tonight.

"Yeah, we rode our luck, Aberdeen had a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the box but I don't remember too many clear cut chances.

"A lot of it was balls into the box and Michael Devlin was outstanding. I've never mentioned it to the media before but it's something we've mentioned behind closed doors here. When you go back a couple of months ago when Scotland were playing, people were saying there are no young Scottish centre backs about and nobody even mentioned Michael, and he's captaining a Premier League team at 22.

"That's in the future and I think he's got the capabilities to go there but he just has to keep his head down and keep working hard and keep on performing like that, because Aberdeen are a top team and you're competing against the best in the country. All round I thought he was fantastic."

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "A lot of pride in the performance and pride in the response, dealing with the situation, players taking real responsibility.

"I didn't think it was a difficult game for us, coming here we normally find it a bit more difficult than it was tonight. I thought we dominated the game and some of our play was excellent. We can be critical of the goal we lost and the amount of crosses in their box and how we've not converted chances.

"Kenny McLean was a Rolls Royce tonight, he was absolutely everywhere. The high quality of his crossing, his possession and his work rate. He was in good company with a lot of good performances in the team, but sometimes you don't get what you deserve.

"It was total dominance, the game was played in their final third. We tried to be as positive as we could and we didn't panic. We just never had that final pass or shot in us tonight. Everyone could see how eager and determined our team was tonight to make the game go our way. While we lost we can still have a lot of pride in our performance."
• None Attempt blocked. Kenny McLean (Aberdeen) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
• None Substitution, Aberdeen. Anthony O'Connor replaces Ryan Jack because of an injury.
• None Attempt missed. Dougie Imrie (Hamilton Academical) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
• None Second yellow card to Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Academical) for a bad foul.
• None Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Academical) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Ash Taylor (Aberdeen) header from the centre of the box is too high. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page