Hamilton Academical of Scotland defender, Hakeem Odoffin’s first half missed sitter returned to haunt his side in their Scottish Premiership clash against Motherwell, who ran off with a shock victory on the road, megasportsarena.com reports.
While Odoffin would later rue his inability to convert the gilt edged chance, Hamilton midfielder, Ronan Hughes got a red card and their team fell 1-0 to Motherwell, which left the hosts rooted to bottom spot on the log.
The visitors had an early escape when Odoffin failed to steer the ball on target after escaping his man from a free-kick, after which Ricki Lamie had a header blocked at the other end and Devante Cole saw a shot parried after some slack play at the back from the hosts.
Odoffin’s nightmare home game worsened when 22-year-old Hughes was sent off for a 33rd-minute midfield challenge and Mark O’Hara fired Motherwell ahead, leaving the Nigerian-born stopper heartbroken till the final whistle.
Bruce Anderson saw a chance saved for the hosts before Motherwell controlled the final quarter and sealed a first Lanarkshire derby victory in six matches to leave their local rivals deep in relegation danger.
There was little in the game before the red card, which came after Hughes threw himself into a challenge with Robbie Crawford but the Motherwell midfielder got to the ball first and referee Kevin Clancy ruled it serious foul play.
Motherwell took just four minutes to make their advantage count after getting the ball out wide. Christopher Long worked it into O’Hara and the midfielder made space to turn and shoot into the bottom corner of the net.
Hamilton now face a trip to St Mirren before playing relegation rivals Ross County and Kilmarnock in the final two matches of the season, after Motherwell switched to a three-man central defence as they looked to avoid a fourth defeat by Accies this season.
Odoffin’s coach, Brian Rice said afterwards: “There wasn’t a lot in the first half, it was scrappy. It was a poor goal to lose, there wasn’t any real danger, and we didn’t have enough craft to break them down.
“Nothing is decided. It just makes it more difficult for us. We have said that in the dressing room. It just makes it more difficult and we just need to go harder, go quicker and we need to go stronger.”
