Matches involving Aberdeen and referee Willie Collum often throw up plenty of talking points – and this was no exception.
Last night’s game was barely under way when the official pointed to the spot when Hamilton’s Brazilian forward Alex D’Acol fell to ground, more in hope than expectation, following minimal pressure from defender Anthony O’Connor.
D’Acol converted the spot-kick to give Accies the breakthrough after six minutes, while the Dons had three penalty appeals of their own inside 12 second half minutes waved away by referee Collum.
The Dons pressed for an equaliser right until the death but could find no way through as their six-match winning run came to an unexpected end with a 1-0 defeat.
It meant the Dons missed out on the chance to reduce Celtic’s lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to a single point and instead remain four points adrift.
Hearts and St Johnstone have the chance to move above the second-placed Dons if they win at Kilmarnock and Rangers respectively this evening.
The result is a blow for the Dons, who hoped to keep their winning momentum going ahead of Saturday’s match against Celtic
New Douglas Park has tended to be a tricky venue for the Dons in recent times with only one victory on their previous four visits.
With champions Celtic heading to Pittodrie on Saturday, Derek McInnes was expected to freshen up the team that started Saturday’s 2-0 Betfred Cup semi-final win against Morton at Hampden.
But the Dons manager opted to make only one alteration with on loan Bristol City midfielder Wes Burns replacing Northern Ireland international Niall McGinn, who dropped to the bench.
Hamilton, having failed to win in five games, welcomed back captain Michael Devlin after a six-week absence because of a knee injury.
Referee Willie Collum was hoping for a more low-key 90 minutes than when he took charge at New Douglas Park when he disallowed three Aberdeen goals in a highly controversial encounter that finished 3-0 to the Dons last February.
But the official wasn’t going to go unnoticed in this fixture either.
With little more than five minutes on the clock, the home side were awarded a penalty for what appeared to be an extremely soft foul by Anthony O’Connor on Alex D’Acol.
The Aberdeen players were incensed by the award with Acol taking full advantage of the decision by firing beyond Joe Lewis, ending a run of three successive shut-outs for the Dons number one.
The Dons looked unsettled on the artificial surface, while Hamilton were growing in confidence and almost plundered a second when Darian MacKinnon’s blistering drive was clawed away by Lewis.
Eamonn Brophy nearly profited from a mix-up in the Aberdeen defence before Dons captain Graeme Shinnie flashed an effort over the crossbar as the visitors searched for a response.
The Dons started to find their groove and almost restored parity with a well-worked move that culminated in James Maddison setting up Jonny Hayes but former Ross County stopper Gary Woods was perfectly positioned to deny the Irishman.
Hamilton survived another scare five minutes before the interval when an inviting Maddison free kick found Mark Reynolds but his downward header was well held by Woods.
It was Aberdeen who had a lucky escape moments later when Grant Gillespie was afforded far too much room on the edge of the area but his goal-bound effort deflected wide off his teammate Brophy.
Aberdeen had a penalty appeal of their own in the opening minute of the second period when MacKinnon wrestled Kenny McLean to the ground but this time Collum was unmoved, despite vociferous appeals from the away support.
The Dons had a second penalty claim waved away in the 54th minute when Shay Logan collided with Hamilton captain Devlin but again the appeals were ignored.
Then, incredibly, a third Aberdeen penalty appeal was waved away inside the opening 12 minutes of the second half when Burns was bundled over by Docherty.
With 64 minutes gone, McInnes made a triple substitution by bringing on Peter Pawlett, Miles Storey and McGinn for Maddison, Reynolds and Burns and changing to an attack-minded 3-5-2 formation.
But with Aberdeen committing so many players forward, they looked susceptible on the counter-attack with Greg Docherty testing Lewis with a powerful drive.
Hamilton should have made certain of the points soon after but Gillespie was guilty of shooting straight at Lewis from 10 yards out.
It mattered not as Hamilton held on for the victory and the Dons travelled back up the road with a sense of injustice.