Hamilton 1, Queen of the South 0: Classy Accies down 10-man Queens

Hamilton took a major step closer to Championship safety with a good win over 10-man Queen of the South at New Douglas Park.

Andy Winter's crisp strike midway through the second half was enough to separate the sides, give Accies a fourth straight win over Queens this season, and leave them 12 points clear of the basement side.

It's also back to back league wins for Hamilton for the first time in almost exactly two years, and puts Accies up to sixth in the table.

Hamilton dominated the first half but without creating too much, while Queen of the South showed a bit of menace on the break.

However, Ben Liddle's 40th-minute red card - and really, referee Graham Grainger nearly gave him the benefit of the doubt twice - left Queen of the South up against a mountain going into the second half.

The second half was played with quite a bit more urgency and Hamilton attacked their visitors with regularity, which eventually paid off with a goal for Winter.

The young striker latched onto Dan O'Reilly's through-ball and kept his composure before drilling a shot past Josh Rae for his third goal of the season.

Hamilton should have added to their lead and went close when Andy Ryan force a breathtaking save to prevent him from arrowing a shot into the top left corner.

Accies head coach Stuart Taylor kept faith with the same side that beat Partick Thistle 4-0 last weekend.

Queens player-boss Wullie Gibson made five changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Kilmarnock last time out. Kieran McKechnie, Alex Cooper, Ben Liddle, Innes Cameron and Lee Connelly came in for Roberto Nditi, Shea Gordon, Ruari Paton, Max Johnston and Niyah Joseph.

Hamilton made the early running but without creating anything clear-cut.

Queen of the South's Ben Liddle was