Ross County fell to 1-0 defeat against Hamilton Accies at New Douglas Park, with former Caley Thistle midfielder Dougie Imrie netting the decisive goal.
Accies’ dominant second-half performance made them worthy of their win, with the Staggies short of attacking guile despite coming into the game on the back of two successive wins.
County named an unchanged side from the previous weekend’s comfortable 2-0 win against Kilmarnock, with Liam Boyce looking to carry on his hot streak of goalscoring form, having netted five times in his last two games alongside attacking partner Craig Curran.
The Staggies were inches from taking the lead just two minutes in, when Martin Woods’ corner picked out Andrew Davies, whose thumping header came back off the crossbar.
County continued to enjoy the better of the play but Accies’ threat grew, with Dougie Imrie and Massimo Donati both forcing Scott Fox into action with low shots.
The home side began to impose themselves on the game but the majority of their threat came from long-range, with Donati’s curling effort again bringing out a save from Fox.
There were precious few further goalscoring opportunities in the first-half, however Accies began on the ascendancy after the break, with Docherty seeing his effort deflected inches over the bar by Christopher Routis, before Gramoz Kurtaj slipped a low strike inches wide of Fox’s post.
McIntyre handed a debut to new signing Tim Chow, with the former Wigan Athletic midfielder replacing Routis, however the hosts continued to enjoy the better of the chances, with Paul Quinn’s short header back towards Fox allowing in substitute Danny Redmond, who clipped just wide, before fellow substitute Eamonn Brophy’s drilled low strike was tipped wide by Fox.
County’s best chance of the match came on 73 minutes when substitute Alex Schalk swung in an inch-perfect cross from the left which picked out the head of Michael Gardyne, but his effort across goal was somehow thwarted by a strong save from Hamilton goalkeeper Remi Matthews.
It proved a crucial moment, as Accies immediately broke upfield to net the decisive goal, as Brophy’s delivery from the right found Darian MacKinnon, who was unable to get a shot away before the ball broke for Imrie to tuck home from point-blank range.
Accies had further chances to win by more through Brophy, who firstly drilled a shot inches over before shooting straight at Fox after being put through, but Accies held on to claim their first league win of the campaign.
