Hamilton Accies will start scoring "two or three" goals in games when confidence rises, says star

Jackson Longridge reckons Hamilton Accies have the players to hurt teams and will soon start scoring two and three goals in League One games.

The defender was pleased with a clean sheet as Accies got their league campaign off to a flier with a 1-0 home win over Cove Rangers, and Longridge reckons they’ll start to see goals flying in as confidence grows.

As it is, that was Hamilton’s first opening day win since 2013, and Longridge wants to see more of those – especially after exiting the Viaplay Cup following a penalties defeat against the same opponents seven days ago.

He said: “It’s just about tidying up. In the game last week the goals we conceded were poor, but we still had a good week of training and, going into today’s game, we had to show a bit more energy.

“We tried to be a bit more ruthless, we got the goal, and luckily for us we were able to hang on and got a clean sheet.

“It’s pleasing to get clean sheets, as a defender, and hopefully going forward we can still create those opportunities and put the ball in the back of the net.

“We have a lot of creative players in the middle to get the service to the strikers, and I’m sure once the confidence comes we’ll find ourselves two and three goals up, playing good football.

“We have players in the middle of the park and in wide areas that are creative, and for defenders, it’s good to just give them the ball and watch them play.”

Longridge, 28, was pleased with three points to get their league campaign off and running.

Dylan Tait’s cross was turned past his own keeper by defender Josh Kerr in 34 minutes, with Paul McGowan’s header being disallowed for offside two minutes later.

Cove’s and McGowan’s day got worse 10 minutes from time, when he was shown a straight red