Hamilton hat-trick hero Andy Winter rescued their play-off semi-final against Alloa and said it shows they’re fighting for gaffer John Rankin.
The 5-3 aggregate win over the Wasps sets up a play-off final showdown with neighbours Airdrie on Wednesday and Saturday this week, to see who plays in next season’s Championship.
Accies found themselves 2-0 down to 10-man Alloa, as Connor Sammon netted in five minutes and Stefan Scougall netted the rebound after Jamie Smith had saved his penalty in 31 minutes.
That came despite George Stanger being sent off for two bookings in four minutes in 24 minutes, and the goal heralded a vocal protest against the Accies board and owner Colin McGowan.
But Hamilton rallied and after Dario Zanatta had forced the ball over the line during a goal-mouth scramble in 37 minutes, Winter netted the first of his hat-trick two minutes later with a rocket into the top right corner.
Zanatta smashed a third into the roof of the net with the outside of his foot in 45 minutes, and, not to be outdone, Winter finished with aplomb 60 seconds later.
Both were chasing a hat-trick in the second half, and Winter got his in 52 minutes when Lucas De Bolle’s lob towards goal allowed him to beat keeper Jay Hogarth to the ball and head in.
Winter’s first ever senior treble earned him the match ball, and he said: “It was a bit of a mental game, a lot of goals came pretty fast at the end of the first half and the start of the second.
“It would have been easy to go and throw in the towel, but if that doesn’t show we’re fighting for the gaffer and everyone else here, I don’t now what will.
“We’re ready, and fighting for this team, and for this gaffer.
“I think everyone would have had us dead and buried [at 2-0 down], but not in that changing room.
“We have always had the belief in ourselves, and it just shows you that it cam come off, and we were relentless.
“That’s down to the way we handled ourselves, and how the gaffer set us up to go, after they went down to 10 men, and we dominated from then on.
“It’s down to him that we got those attacking chances and those goals.”
Winter’s strikes took his tally to 10 for the season and he’s now Hamilton’s top scorer, but isn’t finished there.
He said: “I’ve not scored a hat-trick at senior level, and it’s a good time to get it – but I’m hoping for more than that.
“We’ve not scored enough goals this season, but we were relentless, going forward.”
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