Reid bullish despite derby defeat

Published: 07 Feb 2010 - 14:02:51

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Lukas Jutkiewicz scrambled home the only goal of a scrappy game in the 68th minute following a corner and Motherwell survived some late pressure as Hamilton extended their run without victory to nine games. Accies had a strong injury-time penalty claim rejected when Stevie Hammell barged Flavio Paixao as the Accies substitute attacked the ball on the goal line and Reid claims they just need a change of fortune. Reid was without suspended defender Mark McLaughlin while midfield pair Alex Neil and James Wesolowski failed fitness tests to join top scorer Mickael-Antoine Curier, who is out for six weeks with a knee injury, on the sidelines. So the Hamilton manager is optimistic they will improve, while he was encouraged by the debut of Dougie Imrie following his arrival from Inverness. "We've got big players out - four players who would be in the starting 11 week in, week out," Reid said. "But I thought the players who were on the park did enough to merit something from the game. I thought Dougie Imrie was the best player on the park, he will be a great signing for us. "I'm very confident we're going to bounce back. There is no way this group of players are going to lie down. "You can see that when they lose a goal, they are back in the game. Once I get my full team on the park, you will see the real Hamilton Accies." Motherwell kept their fifth consecutive SPL clean sheet to give manager Craig Brown a return of 13 points from 15 but the former Scotland boss felt his players had delivered a "poor" performance. There was no doubt Motherwell were not at their best but the dreadful pitch made flowing football almost impossible and Brown appeared to be trying to keep his players' feet on the ground ahead of Wednesday's visit of league leaders Rangers. "It's probably the best game we could get because the Old Firm tends to make players raise their game, and we'll have to raise our game to compete on Wednesday," Brown said. "If we had another team I would be concerned but the lads know they will have to step up their quality." Brown did praise the work-rate of Jutkiewicz though following the on-loan Everton striker's 10th goal of the season. "It wasn't his best game but you don't grudge a hard worker scoring a goal," Brown said. "That guy comes in shattered after every game, he comes in bruised and he's still playing with 12 stitches in his thigh." Well moved six points behind fourth-placed Dundee United but Jutkiewicz is not getting too carried away with their league progress. "You just want to concentrate on your own performances rather than looking too far up the table," the 20-year-old said. "It would be great to think they are within our grasp but it's up to us to keep winning, starting on Wednesday and again away at Hamilton on Saturday." Dundee Utd 4/9, Draw 3/1, Hamilton 15/2  

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