Gary Woods believes he can hold on to Hamilton number one spot
Hamilton goalkeeper Gary Woods has told Remi Matthews he has a fight on his hands for Martin Canning's number one spot.
On-loan Norwich youngster Matthews is due to report back at Accies in the new year after spending three months back at Carrow Road recuperating from a shoulder injury.
But former Ross County goalkeeper Woods is determined to keep hold of the slot he has been occupying during Matthews' time out.
He has one last match as Canning's confirmed first-choice goalkeeper against Motherwell on Saturday before his rival rejoins the squad and Woods plans to use the derby clash to showcase his talents.
He told Press Association Sport: "Competition for places is good, it keeps everyone on their toes. For me, Remi coming back means I need to keep performing and hopefully that will take care of itself.
"We have two other 'keepers who have been pushing me on while I've been number one and Remi's job will be no different when he comes back.
"Have I done enough to keep hold of the jersey? Yeah definitely. I think so anyway, but ultimately it will be down to the gaffer and his decision.
"We've got a big game tomorrow ahead of the winter break and I'd like to think if I did enough against Motherwell the position would still be mine by the time we report back.
"You take it one game at a time though and hopefully if we can get a result tomorrow we can go into the winter break on a high."
Accies take on their Lanarkshire rivals hoping to kick-start their campaign after two months without a win.
But Canning knows his side will have to get off to a better start than they have managed recently.
They have conceded the opening goal in seven of their last 10 games and the boss admits that is unsustainable.
Canning - who is without suspended pair Scott McMann and Dougie Imrie for Well's visit to the SuperSeal Stadium - said: "That is always going to leave you with a mountain to climb.
"If you look at the stats for the four games before this recent run, we scored the first goal every time but only won once because we couldn't hold on.
"So we have had spells when we start well and spells when we haven't. But it's a lot easier to pick up results when you do."
Motherwell midfielder Carl McHugh feels fortunate and grateful to be back doing the job he loves after a debilitating head injury.
The Irishman returned to action in Motherwell's 2-1 victory at Inverness on Wednesday after almost five months out following a serious concussion sparked by a clash of heads with Kilmarnock midfielder Dean Hawkshaw on the opening day of the season.
The 23-year-old was forced off on his Ladbrokes Premiership debut by a deep scar above his eye but he now feels lucky that the wound opened up.
"I played the game against Kilmarnock and I had the scar on my face but I felt all right afterwards," he said.
"I felt grand and then it was four days afterwards that I went downhill and starting getting symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, the headaches and dizziness and the symptoms just wouldn't leave.
"It was very tough but getting the scar was probably a blessing in disguise because it meant I had to come off.
"At the time I didn't feel anything, I didn't feel like I was concussed. If you play on, that's when you can be in trouble. So that was probably a blessing in disguise getting my head split open."
Source: PAR
