Hamilton’s praise as players adjust to top-flight football

“It has been great to see Joel Cooper, Andy Hall and Kyle Buckley settle so quickly at the club after moving up from the Championship level.

“I think the progress made by the three players proves that, if you are prepared to do the homework, there is certainly quality below the top flight.

“Andy must be up with the best in the league in terms of assists and has been so consistent.

“Joel is part of Northern Ireland under 21s’ set-up and Kyle also played a part on Saturday against Ballinamallard.

“Of course, it is still early in the season but we have got to be pleased with the progress of those three players.

“Overall, we were a real attacking threat.

“Credit must go to Bryan McLoughlin and Paul Millar for working so hard during the week in training on specific areas.

“We really wanted to improve our deliveries into the penalty area and you could see from the number of balls in and the number of goals scored from inside the box that it worked well last weekend.

“That is down to the time spent on the training ground and, as a striker, I know the value of getting the right delivery into the box at the right time.

“Our strikers can thrive on that service and it was certainly great to see against Ballinamallard.

“Eoin Bradley was, of course, unable to feature last weekend due to the travel chaos in Egypt.

“I was in touch with Eoin and one positive was the fact that we knew the situation in advance of the game so it did not disrupt our preparations.

“Eoin will return to training this week and is available for Saturday’s match against Dungannon.

“Of course, Fabio grabbed his chance by scoring three goals last weekend and we operate on the idea that the player in form keeps the shirt.

“Most of our injury problems remain long-term, with Eoin the only addition to the squad this weekend compared to the Ballinamallard panel.

“After scoring a goal on his debut, the level of expectation was high for Fabio but he has been in and out of the side.

“However, he is in a good run of form at the minute and it is important to have options and a good squad.”