Belief sees Accies top the table

McArthur delight at win

Hamilton 3 Dundee United 1

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MAC THE KNIFE: James McArthur, right, celebrates scoring with his Hamilton team-mates.

HAMILTON midfielder James McArthus reckons the belief within the dressing room helped his side get off to a winning start in the SPL.

The Scotland U21 international McArthur scored a controversial goal to put Hamilton in front after Tony Stevenson’s free-kick had cancelled out an own goal from Mark McLaughlin.

The midfielder diverted McLaughlin’s header into the net with his hand as he tried to chest the ball home but United can have no complaints about the result.

David Graham drilled home from 20 yards in the 63rd minute as Hamilton – who were playing their first top flight game in 19 years – controlled the game until the final 15 minutes when Tomas Cerny repelled some belated United pressure.

Reid admitted the game could not have gone any better and McArthur was delighted to finally test himself in the top flight.

“I was a wee bit nervous about how we were going to do as a team but as you saw we did well,” he said.

“We had belief, but we didn’t know what we were coming into. We played a few SPL teams last season and we did okay, but it was brilliant to finally get into the campaign.

“We were a wee bit apprehensive, but we were keen to enjoy the occasion.

“We have got a lot of belief and character in our dressing room, as it showed out there.

“It was great character coming back. We were very unfortunate to lose the goal but we came back well and got the result we were looking for.”

United boss Craig Levein praised the First Division champions, but could not ignore the fact his team had produced the worst performance of his reign.

He said: “Our goalkeeper had to make three or four saves early on, every single one from a situation that was easily preventable.”