Hamilton Academicals 1, Dunfermline Athletic 0

Pars failed to take anything out of a bleak afternoon in Lanarkshire.

A sending off and a subsequent sending off for Pars captain Graham Dorrans consigned Dunfermline to defeat and saw Hamilton rise above the Pars in the cinch Championship table.

Pars boss John Hughes made one chance from Friday night’s cup defeat at the hands of Partick Thistle.

Kai Kennedy came in to the starting eleven in place of Dom Thomas.

Both teams were looking to take the three points to move them further away from the bottom with both starting the match on 13 points.

The home side enjoyed the majority of possession and chances in the first half however neither were able to break the deadlock in the first 45 minutes.

Owain Fon Williams was called on twice in the opening twenty minutes to collect from Marley Redfern with Accies causing problems for the Dunfermline defence.

It wasn’t all the home team however and Graham Dorrans’ cross come shot threatened just before the 40 minute mark but his effort went wide.

It looked like Dunfermline were going to get one against the run of play minutes later.

A Kyle Macdonald effort came out to Dorrans who belted in a shot which came off the crossbar and came to Aaron Comrie. His luck wasn’t in and, in front of goal, saw his header go wide.

There was more danger for Athletic just before the half time whistle but Comrie managed to get his head on a speedy Lewis Smith cross and knock the ball out for a corner.

The second half didn’t bring much more luck for Dunfermline and the game turned at the 60 minute mark.

A goal mouth melee provided a golden chance for Hamilton however Dorrans somehow got in the way to head it off the line.

However, seconds later he was again the one on the line to block the ball. This time it was with his hand which got in the way, resulting in a penalty award and a straight red for the Pars skipper.

David Moyo stepped up and slotted coolly past Fon Williams to give his side the lead.

Hamilton had another chance minutes later when Smith took the ball into the box but he shot just wide.

Dunfermline offered little in the way of attacking promise with barely a clear chance in goal.

In the dying minutes, there were calls for a penalty after an Edwards free kick but they were ignored by ref David Munro.

Hamilton Academical

Hilton, Popescu, Easton, Hamilton (Virtaken 71), MacDonald, Martin, Smith, Mullin, Mimnaugh, Moyo, Redfern (Munro 85).

Subs: Smith, Virtaken, Ryan, Winter.

Goal: Moyo (61)

Yellow card: Popescu

Dunfermline Athletic

Fon Williams, Comrie, Edwards, Macdonald (Pybus 71), Kennedy (O’Hara 67), Dow, Gaspuitis, McCann, Dorrans, Todd (Todorov 77), Connolly.

Subs: Mehmet, Graham, Wighton, Allan.

Red card: Dorrans

Bookings; O’Hara, Connolly, Mccann