Reid hopes to conjure best trick yet by earning safety

BILLY Reid has warned Kilmarnock his Hamilton side will have more tricks up their sleeves in this afternoon's Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash at New Douglas Park.

Accies conjured up a brilliantly deceptive free-kick in their 1-1 draw at Inverness last time out and have had two weeks to plot more set-piece surprises for the first of their post-split fixtures. Reid believes the work his players put in on the training ground could prove crucial in their battle to avoid an immediate return to the Irn-Bru First Division.

"We've worked on another couple (of dead-ball routines] this week, so we'll see how that goes," he said. "Our record at set pieces this season is really good.

"We worked really hard on the free-kick we scored at Inverness and it's always really nice when it pays off. The unfortunate thing was it wasn't for the three points. We felt as though we merited the three points up there."

The two-week break can hardly have been kinder to the Accies manager who had had to endure an injury crisis he branded the worst of his managerial career. Reid, however, goes into today's game with a fully-fit squad. That includes midfielder Mark Corcoran, who has made a remarkable recovery from the hip operation which was expected to rule him out for the rest of the season and who may make his first appearance for almost six months.

Reid said: "We're looking really healthy at the moment. We trained on Tuesday and Wednesday and I've noticed a real freshness in the lads. We're ready to meet the challenge ahead. We know how difficult it's going to be but we've got a belief."

Like Hamilton, Kilmarnock are six points off the foot off the table and the Ayrshire side's manager, Jim Jefferies, believes two wins from their final five league games will wipe out the threat of relegation.

Jefferies admits whoever comes out on top this afternoon will take a huge step towards safety.

"It's a big game for both clubs because I think whoever wins this one will probably just be looking for another win or possibly a point if results go your way to be safe," said Jefferies.

"If we get a draw, it'd probably be a better result for us as we've got three home games coming up but we won't be playing for a draw – we always play to win. If we can get a win then with just four games left one more result would see us safe as we'd be asking teams to win every game after that."

Goalkeeper Alan Combe also spoke of the vital nature of today's match.

Combe said: "If we get a result then personally I think we'll be safe if other results go for us.

So what an incentive that is to go and beat Hamilton at their own ground."