Battling Hamilton Accies pulled sent off Lee Kilday out of a hole in Annan win, says boss

John Rankin says Lee Kilday’s Hamilton Accies team-mates pulled him out of a hole by holding on for a hard-fought 2-1 win at Annan on Tuesday night.

But Rankin refused to put the boot into his “outstanding” defender for his 49th-minute dismissal at Galabank, even though it's his second in three games.

Hamilton raced into a 2-0 lead inside 19 minutes through Jackson Longridge and Lewis Smith.

But Michael Garrity pulled a goal back for the hosts in 23 minutes, before Kilday saw red following a flare-up with Willie Gibson, leaving Accies down to 10 men for most of the second half.

Annan threw everything they had at Hamilton, but they held on for a win that puts them a point behind League One leaders Falkirk – following their 0-0 draw with Montrose – going into the weekend games.

Rankin said: “The sending off is silly, Lee should know better, but his team-mates have dug him out of a hole tonight, so I’m delighted with the response of going down to 10, and getting the three points.

“The first one is a challenge, I don’t think you can do anything about that. I think he’s just mistimed his challenge.

“But the second one was a reaction. Willie Gibson is an experienced player, Lee is an experienced player. Willie knew what he was doing, Lee bought it, and he should know better.

“But he’s made a mistake and we move on. We’ve been fortunate that we got the three points from it.

“I’m not going to oust him for it, because he’s been outstanding for us this season, and we just need to try and fill that gap when he’s out the side.”

Rankin added: “I thought we started the game really well, and it was just a case of could we get a third goal to kill it.

“Annan are a really difficult side to play against, especially away from home.

“The