# 2016–17 Hamilton Academical F.C. season

The 2016–17 season was the club's third season in the Scottish Premiership. Hamilton also competed in the Scottish Cup and the League Cup. Hamilton secured their top flight status for the 2017–18 season by beating Dundee United 1–0 on aggregate in the Premiership play-off final.

## Summary
### Management

The club began the 2016–17 season under the continued management of Martin Canning who also extended his own playing contract, staying as the player-manager for the club.
After saving the club from relegation through the play-offs, manager Martin Canning thanked the board for sticking with him throughout the season.

## Results & fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Scottish Cup
## Squad statistics
### Appearances

As of 20 May 2017
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premiership | Premiership | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | Play-offs | Play-offs |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Remi Matthews | 27 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | GRE | Giannis Skondras | 18 | 1 | 11+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | SCO | Michael Devlin | 36 | 2 | 28 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Martin Canning | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | SCO | Grant Gillespie | 41 | 1 | 28+3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | SCO | Dougie Imrie | 48 | 7 | 36+1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Greg Docherty | 37 | 2 | 23+6 | 1 | 4+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Alexandre D'Acol | 35 | 9 | 24+5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ENG | Daniel Redmond | 34 | 2 | 15+12 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Ali Crawford | 42 | 10 | 31+2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | KOS | Gramoz Kurtaj | 17 | 0 | 5+9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | CYP | Alex Gogić | 9 | 0 | 3+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | ENG | Rakish Bingham | 36 | 7 | 23+7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SCO | Craig Watson | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | SCO | Louis Longridge | 24 | 3 | 9+7 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | SCO | Darian MacKinnon | 42 | 0 | 32+1 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | GK | SCO | Darren Jamieson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | SCO | Eamonn Brophy | 31 | 2 | 7+21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ITA | Massimo Donati | 40 | 3 | 26+5 | 2 | 3+1 | 1 | 3+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | SCO | Darren Lyon | 8 | 1 | 5+1 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | SCO | Scott McMann | 31 | 0 | 21+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | ESP | Jesús García Tena | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | SCO | Ben Reilly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | GK | SCO | Alex Marshall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | SCO | Shaun Want | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | FW | SCO | Ross Cunningham | 4 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | FW | SCO | Ryan Tierney | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | SCO | Jack Breslin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | SCO | Ronan Hughes | 4 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | GK | ENG | Gary Woods | 22 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | FW | SCO | David Templeton | 5 | 1 | 1+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | ENG | Blair Adams | 7 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 89 | DF | GRE | Georgios Sarris | 34 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Players who left the club during the 2016–17 season ||||||||||
| 2 | DF | ENG | Danny Seaborne | 13 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | LVA | Antons Kurakins | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | TRI | Richard Roy | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | SCO | Jordan McGregor | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | SCO | Steven Boyd | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | GK | SCO | Robbie Thomson | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | DF | GER | Lennard Sowah | 7 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Sean McKirdy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 36 | 56 | −20 | 41 | |
| 9 | Motherwell | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 46 | 69 | −23 | 38 | |
| 10 | Dundee | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 38 | 62 | −24 | 37 | |
| 11 | Hamilton Academical (O) | 38 | 7 | 14 | 17 | 37 | 56 | −19 | 35 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off final |
| 12 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle (R) | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 44 | 71 | −27 | 34 | Relegation to the Scottish Championship |
* ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.

### League Cup Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | HAM | AYR | STM | LIV | EDI |
| 1 | Hamilton Academical (Q) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 9 | Qualification for the Second Round | — | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | — |
| 2 | Ayr United (Q) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 9 | Qualification for the Second Round | 2–1 | — | — | — | 1–0 |
| 3 | St Mirren | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 9 | | — | 1–0 | — | — | 3–0 |
| 4 | Livingston | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 3 | | — | 0–2 | 2–3 | — | — |
| 5 | Edinburgh City | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 | | 2–4 | — | — | 0–3 | — |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 13 July 2016 | DF | Jack Breslin | Celtic | Free transfer |
| 14 July 2016 | DF | Jordan McGregor | Hibernian | Free transfer |
| 14 July 2016 | GK | Remi Matthews | Norwich City | Loan |
| 18 July 2016 | MF | Massimo Donati | Bari | Free transfer |
| 27 July 2016 | GK | Gary Woods | Leyton Orient | Free transfer |
| 27 July 2016 | DF | Georgios Sarris | Kayseri Erciyesspor | Free transfer |
| 11 August 2016 | MF | Sean McKirdy | Heart of Midlothian | Free transfer |
| 24 August 2016 | DF | Danny Seaborne | Partick Thistle | Free transfer |
| 2 September 2016 | GK | Robbie Thomson | Queen of the South | Free transfer |
| 25 September 2016 | GK | Darren Jamieson | Livingston | Free transfer |
| 12 October 2016 | DF | Lennard Sowah | Hamburg | Free transfer |
| 27 January 2017 | DF | Blair Adams | Cambridge United | Free transfer |
| 30 January 2017 | DF | Giannis Skondras | PAOK | Free transfer |
| 25 February 2017 | MF | Alex Gogić | Swansea City | Free transfer |
| 24 March 2017 | MF | David Templeton | Rangers | Free transfer |

### Out

| Date | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 11 July 2016 | DF | Ziggy Gordon | Partick Thistle | Free transfer |
| 19 July 2016 | GK | Michael McGovern | Norwich City | Free transfer |
| 3 August 2016 | GK | Alan Martin | Dumbarton | Free transfer |
| 19 August 2016 | FW | Steven Boyd | Albion Rovers | Loan |
| 24 August 2017 | DF | Antons Kurakins | Free Agent | Released |
| 3 January 2017 | GK | Robbie Thomson | Falkirk | Free transfer |
| 9 January 2017 | DF | Lennard Sowah | Heart of Midlothian | Free transfer |
| 27 January 2017 | FW | Richard Roy | Broughty Athletic | Free transfer |
| 31 January 2017 | DF | Jordan McGregor | Airdrieonians | Loan |
| 17 February 2017 | MF | Sean McKirdy | Berwick Rangers | Loan |
| 10 April 2017 | DF | Danny Seaborne | Exeter City | Free transfer |