Jamie Hamilton's Accies return timeline set as defender bulks up

John Rankin hopes to have Jamie Hamilton fit for selection "within the next month" as the defender targets a return to action.

The 20-year-old hasn't featured for the club since April 16 in a 1-0 win over Morton due to a summer of uncertainty.

There were rumours that the New Douglas Park academy product was set to move away from Lanarkshire in the close season but nothing came to fruition.

Hamilton missed the club's entire pre-season campaign before eventually putting pen to paper on a new Accies deal last month, keeping him at the club until summer 2023.

He has been working hard to catch-up with his team-mates but it seems he is still a few weeks away from making his first appearance of the 2022/23 campaign.

Rankin said: "Jamie has been back running, which is good to see.

"He is looking thicker in terms of muscle and that becomes important in terms of where we see his development.

"I'm really looking forward to having Jamie back on the pitch.

"He's got such a positive influence on the team and his character around the dressing room is great.

"Sometimes you question if he is being serious or he is kidding on with some of his questions and answers to things, but he's the type of character we need around the place.

"I'm hoping we can get Jamie back within the next month, which would be hugely beneficial to us going forward."

The SPFL Reserve League returned on Tuesday with Accies suffering a 2-1 defeat to Livingston.

Ryan One was on target for the hosts and Rankin added: "We had a reserve game on Tuesday and that was good to get boys valuable minutes, albeit the physio room is extremely busy just now.

"Having these reserve games will definitely help us get these guys back quicker.

"We are now seeing Miko [Virtanen], Marley