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Daily Record
Sport
Andy McGilvray

Hamilton 5, Alloa 2: Accies stage incredible fight-back to reach play-off final

Andy Winter bagged a hat-trick and Dario Zanatta a double as Hamilton Accies fought back against the odds against 10-man Alloa to keep their Championship survival fight alive.

They move into the play-off final against Lanarkshire rivals Airdrie on Wednesday and Saturday of next week.

The game looked dead and buried and Accies diving into League One after just 31 minutes, but doubles from Zanatta and Winter put them 4-2 ahead at the break.

It was an incredible first half that gave us six goals, a red card and a penalty save as Alloa went 2-0 up, Hamilton fans staged a demonstration against the board, and John Rankin's side then rattled in four goals in nine minutes to take control of the tie.

While the second half was understandably less frantic, Accies added a fifth as Winter completed his hat-trick in 52 minutes to make sure of the win.

Connor Sammon got Alloa off the mark after just five minutes and the visitors doubled that lead through Stefan Scougall in 31 minutes, despite defender George Stanger being sent off in 24 minutes. for a foul on Winter.

But Accies netted twice in as many minutes to level in 39 minutes through Andy WInter, after Dario Zanatta had pulled them back into the game.

Zanatta and Winter then smashed the ball into the net to put Accies 4-2 ahead on the day and 4-3 on aggregate.

De Bolle's unorthodox set-up then led to Winter sealing his hat-trick to put the tie beyond doubt.

Hamilton head coach John Rankin made two changes from the side that lost 1-0 at the Indodrill on Tuesday. Lucas De Bolle and Lewis Smith came in for Fergus Owens and Lewis Spence.

Alloa players celebrate as their side goes 2-0 up after 31 minutes (SNS Group)

His Alloa counterpart Brian Rice also made two changes from the side that put themselves into the lead in the tie, as Stefan Scougall and Cameron O'Donnell came in for injured Adam King and Luke Strachan.

Alloa took the lead in five minutes when Cameron O'Donnell's free kick from the right was headed in off the left post by Sammon.

They nearly doubled their lead shortly after that as Sammon tried to get on the end of a parry from goalkeeper Jamie Smith after he parried a fierce shot, but was flagged offside.

Accies went close to drawing level on the day in 15 minutes, but De Bolle's shot from the left was diverted onto the post by goalkeeper Jay Hogarth.

Accies were denied what looked like a strong case for a penalty in 21 minutes when Connor Smith raced through the defence and appeared to be felled in the box by George Stanger, but referee Chris Graham gave the decision against Smith.#

Dario Zanatta picks the ball up after reducing the deficit to 2-1 (SNS Group)

A trip on Sammon by goalkeeper Jamie Smith gave Alloa a penalty in 31 minutes, and though Scougall's effort was saved at the bottom right corner, he reacted fastest to smash the rebound into the net.

Accies looked like sliding into League One at that point, but Zanatta smashed the ball into the net in 37 minutes from a goalmouth scramble, and when Alloa failed to clear their lines two minutes later, Winter smashed the ball into the top right corner from distance.

Zanatta then smashed in his second of the afternoon with the outside of his right boot to send the ball into the roof of the net, and Winter looked like he was trying to equal that as he smashed in another cracker to put Hamilton 4-3 ahead on aggregate.

Andy Winter races away after scoring the first of his goals against Alloa (SNS Group)

The hosts added a fifth in 52 minutes when De Bolle's lob towards goal foxed keeper Hogarth and Winter beat him to it to head in at the right post.

Alloa had a chance to pull a goal back in 76 minutes, but Ross MacIver fired over the bar from just inside the box.

There was one last chance for Accies as sub Tom Sparrow made his way through on the right, but could only find the side-netting.

HAMILTON: J. Smith, Tumilty, McGowan, O'Reilly, L. Smith (Shiels, 60), Mimnaugh, Martin (Spence, 65), De Bolle, C. Smith (Sparrow, 77), Zanatta (Redfern, 60, Stephenson, 77)), Winter.

Subs (not used): McFarlane (GK), Easton, Sparrow, Owens, One.

Booked: L. Smith (16), Zanatta (20), J. Smith (31)

ALLOA: Hogarth, Stanger, Taggart (Rankin, 14, Graham, 25)(, Devine (Donnelly, 69), Cawley (Buchanan, 46), Scougall, Miller, O'Donnell, Coulson, Sammon, MacIver.

Subs (not used): Muir (GK), Cannon.

Sent off: Stanger (23)

Booked: Stanger (19), Cawley (20), O'Donnell (65)

Referee: Chris Graham.

Attendance: 1353.

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