Hamilton eased into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup thanks to a comfortable 5-0 win against League Two side Edinburgh City.
The Premiership team showed their quality from the outset and goals from Andy Dales, Scott McMann, Scott Martin, Andy Winter and Mickel Miller put the result beyond doubt.
However, their progression into the next round came at a cost with both full-backs, Aaron McGowan and Scott McMann, being substituted due to injuries.
Hamilton came agonisingly close to opening the scoring after 15 minutes. Debutant Dales ghosted into the box to meet Miller’s cross but his header rebounded off the bar before being cleared to safety.
Miller’s unpredictable running was causing the visitors problems and he produced another pinpoint cross but George Oakley acrobatically headed over.
The hosts grabbed a deserved lead after 22 minutes courtesy of new signing Dales. In almost identical fashion to his earlier chance, the Scunthorpe loanee arrived unmarked in the box to head McGowan’s cross down past Alan Martin.
Accies capitalised on their dominance to double their advantage in the 27th minute. McMann gathered the ball on the edge of the area and arrowed a powerful effort beyond Martin.
Dales was outstanding for the hosts on debut with his driving runs from midfield and he forced Martin into another comfortable stop after 40 minutes.
Hamilton put the game to bed on the stroke of half-time when Martin’s speculative effort took a wicked deflection off Conrad Balatoni to leave a dejected Martin stranded.
The second half resembled a pre-season friendly, with Hamilton preserving their energy ahead of a trip to Hibernian in midweek and City happy to keep the scoreline respectable.
Academy graduate Winter made it the perfect afternoon for Hamilton when the 17-year old scored a debut goal by firing low past Martin from a tight angle in the 81st minute.
And the impressive Miller found the goal his performance deserved when he headed home for Hamilton’s fifth late on.
