Craig Conway is getting used to Dundee United spurning advances from other clubs for his signature.
The home team could point to two clear-cut chances missed at crucial points. The first came at the start of the game when Dougie Imrie was unmarked in the box, but a clumsy touch took it out of his stride and into the hands of Dusan Pernis.
Then on the stroke of half-time Marco Paixao missed the target from inside the box with only Pernis to beat. These moments apart, however, Hamilton looked every inch a team in serious danger of falling out of the SPL.
They weren’t much better than their meek performance against St Johnstone in midweek, and manager Billy Reid is under no illusions about the scale of the task he is faced with
He said, “The goals we lost in the first half were criminal. This is a testing time for the club and the most important thing is that everybody sticks together. If we do that we’ve got a chance.”
For United the outlook is much more optimistic. A high league finish is still very much within their compass and, as for the Scottish Cup, they’ve shown in Dingwall and Hamilton that they’re determined to hold on to the trophy.
Houston saidd, “The players are driven on by what they achieved at Hampden last year. Andy Webster is the only one who isn’t still with us. We’re delighted to be in the last eight now but we won’t be looking too far ahead.”
United chairman Stephen Thompson expressed his gratitude to the club’s fans for roaring them on to success on Saturday.
“I would like to thank them for their fantastic support at Hamilton. They made all the difference and everyone at the club really appreciated it,” he said.
So the Tannadice winger insisted there will be no adverse affect on his play as a result of last week’s offer to the Tannadice club from Rangers being rebuffed.
Walter Smith proposed a swap with former United skipper Andy Webster in the dying hours of the January transfer window, which Tannadice chairman Stephen Thompson dismissed.
Conway, who was a key man in the Tangerines’ 3-1 weekend Scottish Cup fifth round victory at Hamilton, revealed that the previous experience of seeing a £600,000 bid from Middlesbrough in the summer being treated the same way by Thompson, has helped him maintain his on pitch focus this time around.
The former Ayr United man said, “I took it (the Rangers bid) with a pinch of salt. I’ve learned my lesson from the past. I heard about it towards the end of the window but I haven’t thought much about it since.
“The way I see it, I’m happy playing my football here and if anything happens it’s out of my control. It’s great to be linked with these big clubs but the only thing that I can control is taking care of things on the park. That’s what I’ll continue to do.
“When I first heard about Middlesbrough I probably got a wee bit distracted. I knew about it way before the cup final. I don’t feel it affected my play though, and I started the season well before I got injured.
“I’m out of contract in the summer and I don’t know what will happen. There are a few boys in the same boat and none of us are speaking about it in the dressing room.” Manager Peter Houston is realistic about the Conway situation.
He said, “We’ll try to keep him here but being honest, perhaps there will be clubs willing to pay him more than us. Money is tight but if there’s anything we can do to persuade Craig to stay I know the chairman would like to do it.
“I think he’s getting close to his best again. He scored a great goal against Hibs last week and his delivery again against Accies was of a high quality. We’re really pleased about that because he’s a big player for us.
“It’s also positive that when I look at my bench I can see strength there now as well. We had the likes of Morgaro Gomis, Johnny Russell and Danny Swanson there. In the next few weeks we’ll need all these guys because I think after next weekend we’ll be playing every midweek up until the split.”
That United lost none of their star men in January bodes well for a successful second half of the season as far as Conway is concerned.
He said, “The manager has managed to keep everyone together, which is great, and I feel that we’re starting to build confidence and momentum.”
Three-goal returns in back-to-back fixtures is another positive sign, as is the fact that they’ve been scored by five different players.Hamilton matchThere was a time not so long ago that if top scorer David Goodwillie wasn’t finding the net, neither were United. Their three on Saturday were scored by Jon Daly, Paul Dixon and Prince Buaben.
For Daly’s opener on 20 minutes Conway took a quick free-kick after being brought down himself, and nudged the ball forward to Dixon. The left-back fired the ball into the box and it looped high into the air off goalkeeper Tomas Cerny. Inside the six-yard box Daly was strongest and buried a header.
Their second, five minutes before the break, came from a Dixon 18-yard shot which deflected off Martin Canning past a helpless Cerny.
The second half was just 40 seconds old when Mickael Antoine-Curier gave Accies a lifeline with a powerful back post header from an Andy Graham cross.
But just before the hour-mark United were back in total command through a Buaben close range strike after Daly had headed a Conway free-kick across goal.