Jim Goodwin praised Jak Alnwick after the St Mirren keeper kept Hamilton at bay to help the Buddies to a 1-0 win in the Scottish Premiership.
The 27-year-old former Rangers keeper was signed in the summer as a replacement for Vaclav Hladky and, after fine displays against Livingston and the Ibrox men, he made several key saves against Accies.
A goal in the 19th minute from Jon Obika took the points back to Paisley but Goodwin was equally pleased by the performance at the other end of the pitch.
“Jak is one that we had been following a long, long time,” said boss Goodwin. “We thought last January that we might lose Hladky and we had to think of a replacement and Jak was on the radar.
“We kept an eye on how he was getting on at Blackpool (on loan). We were all concerned about losing Vaclav, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. We knew how difficult it would be to replace him.
“But to get someone of Jak’s calibre…everyone knows how good his distribution is, that is why Mark Warburton took him to Rangers, he can ping a ball here, there and everywhere better than some of the outfield players.
“But some of the shot stopping saves he has made in the last three games has been outstanding. He’s probably the form keeper in the league at the moment.
“So it bodes well for us going forward. It is a really important position for any successful team and we are absolutely delighted.
“First half, I was really pleased; second half I was disappointed that we were sloppy in possession but at the same time over the moon that we were able to see it through.”
It was Hamilton’s third successive defeat of the season after a 5-1 thumping at Celtic and a 1-0 defeat by Ross County.
Boss Brian Rice admitted that he was concerned about his side’s start to the campaign but took positives from the performance, especially after the break.
He said: “I felt we started the game well, the first 15 minutes was what I was after. We lost our way the rest of the first half.
“We started the second half well and kept going, it is just frustrating we never took our chances.
“They were good chances and in this league you have got to be clinical. That’s two weeks in a row we have lost 1-0 to scrappy, scrappy goals.
“The pleasing thing was we kept going and created chances. Last week were really disappointed because we didn’t look like scoring
“But the second half was the sort of performance I was after and if we keep doing that the goals will come.”
