UNITED 2 HAMILTON 2

United had to settle for a point at Tannadice, as Hamilton held the Terrors to a deserved draw in a game that finished with both sides down to ten men. By Greg Watson Nadir Ciftci gave United the lead in the 17th minute, only for Hamilton to equalise 11 minutes later through Mickael Antoine-Curier. Ciftci and Darian MacKinnon were both sent off after picking up two yellow cards each either side of Tony Andreu sneaking a low shot from distance past Radoslaw Cierzniak to give Accies the lead. Jarek Fojut equalised on the stroke of half time, to complete the scoring. The result meant that both sides joined Inverness on thirteen points, with Hamilton leading Inverness and United on goal difference. Accies were able to name the same side that beat Ross County 4-0 last time out, while United were forced into a couple of changes with Sean Dillon and Mario Bilate replacing the injured Conor Townsend and Ryan Dow. United made a decent start to an extremely fast paced opening period, with Ciftci looking dangerous initially playing on the left of the three playing off of Bilate. He was first to threaten the Hamilton goal, with a stinging shot that former United keeper, Michael McGovern, had to beat away and Accies had to scramble to deny Keith Watson heading in the rebound at the back post. Ciftci then gave United in the 17th minute, and it was an impressive individual goal. Bilate took a quick throw-in on the right to catch out the Accies defence, and Ciftci powered into the box and cut inside Martin Canning, before coolly slotting past McGovern from close range. United’s lead only lasted eleven minutes though, as Antoine-Curier was able to profit from some slack defending at the other end. MacKinnon and Ciftci both received soft yellow cards, when they tussled after Ciftci had leaned onto the Accies midfielder. Hamilton took the resulting free-kick quickly and MacKinnon wriggled through a couple of attempted challenges and slid the ball to Dougie Imrie, whose miskick bounced into the penalty area. Callum Morris had a fresh air swipe at an attempted volley clear and the ball broke to Antoine-Curier, who clinically fired the ball across Cierzniak into the bottom corner. The pumped-up MacKinnon was then given a second yellow card for trying to wind up Ciftci when celebrating the goal, in a bizarre sending-off incident and had to be directed off the pitch by his team-mates. However, five minutes later the ten men went ahead. Tony Andreu tried a speculative effort from 25 yards out, which squirmed past Cierzniak, with the United ‘keeper appearing to be deceived by the bounce of the ball in front of him. United immediately went looking for an equaliser, but were promptly reduced to ten men themselves. Ciftci tried to turn the ball in at the back post, and daftly knocked it in with his hand to leave John Beaton with no choice but to issue a second yellow card. United did level before the interval, however; Fojut towering in a Mackay-Steven corner for the second game in a row in stoppage time. Unlike the St Mirren game, it was an out-swinger this time, but the result was the same and the Polish centre-back rose to thump his header over the defender on the back post and into the top corner. The second half was a largely disjointed affair, with both sides limited to few chances. Fojut was able to get above McGovern and head towards goal on the 53rd minute, but Accies were able to scramble it off the line. Hamilton had an opportunity almost straight after, but Ali Crawford couldn’t beat Cierzniak’s near post. The midfielder had another chance for a winner in the 71st minute when Cierzniak had to race out of his box to challenge the oncoming Antoine-Curier, and the loose ball fell Crawford’s way with the goal gaping. Cierzniak was up quickly to block the effort, right on the edge of his penalty area, however. Michael Devlin and Canning both headed over decent chances from corner-kicks in the dying stages, but the match finished two goals apiece; with both sides probably meriting a share of the points. MAN OF THE MATCH: Keith Watson. Watson had a solid game defensively and made a few of important interventions. He was also a willing option down the right-hand side of United’s attack, providing some decent crosses and was a goal threat on occasion at Hamilton’s back post. UNITED: Cierzniak, Watson, Morris, Fojut, Dillon, Paton, Rankin, Mackay-Steven, Erskine, Ciftci, Bilate (Spittal). Subs: Szromnik, Butcher, Spark, Smith, Telfer, Spittall, Connolly. HAMILTON: McGovern, Gordon, Canning, Garcia Tena (Devlin), Gillespie, MacKinnon, Crawford, Imrie, Andreu (Longridge), Redmond (Hendrie), Antoine-Curier. Subs: Hill, Devlin, Hendrie, Neil, Brophy, Longridge, Scotland. REFEREE: John Beaton. ATTENDANCE: 7109