Hamilton boss praises January recruit after 'excellent' Accies impact

Hamilton head coach Stuart Taylor isn't keen on praising players individually - but Dan O'Reilly's arrival at Accies has to be noted.

The Irish defender has slotted in seamlessly to the New Douglas Park side's defence and played a starring role in their 1-0 Championship win over Morton last Saturday.

Accies are seventh ahead of taking on Inverness on Friday night and O'Reilly's impact since arriving last month from Drogheda United has been highlighted.

But Taylor insists the entire team deserves credit for an upturn in performance levels.

He explained: "Dan's done really well. I don't particularly like highlighting individuals as we are doing well as a group and as a team we are getting stronger.

"We are getting better all the time, but Dan's come in, and we spoke about looking for leadership. He's done that fantastically well.

"He's built up a relationship with Mihai Popescu, plus Kieran MacDonald and Matthew Shiels. He's been excellent but so have the rest of the back four. Joe Hilton (Accies goalkeeper) has been excellent too."

Accies' victory over Morton made it one defeat in seven league matches for Taylor's side. The Hamilton head coach was pleased with efforts at both ends of the park.

While not creating chances like they have been in other contests, taking their shot when it came and defending rigorously was more important.

Taylor added: "That was the big thing on Saturday. We never really had any real chances like we have had previously. I think Saturday was the least amount of shots on goal we've had in recent games.

"But we were ruthless which was great to see. We were ruthless in defence as well and as a unit, not just the back four, from the front three we pressed well.

"We were strong, commanding and did