Striker sets sights on Championship tally as he bids to fire Hamilton Accies up the league

Red-hot Hamilton Accies striker Oli Shaw admits he has his best-ever Championship tally in his sights this season after firing his side into the Scottish Cup fourth round.

Shaw was on target in 26 minutes and in first-half stoppage time to see Accies safely through against Highland League Banks O’Dee.

Though Michael Philipson pulled a goal back in 62 minutes to provide a nervy finish for the Championship side, Shaw says progressing to a fourth-round tie at home to East of Scotland Premier Division side Musselburgh is all that matters.

Shaw said: “We knew it was going to be tough going up there, in a cup competition anything can happen, so for us to get through to the next round was the most important thing.

“On a personal level, to get two goals to keep my goal tally going means it was a positive weekend.

“The first goal was quite a good move, the ball got flipped on the side, I’ve managed to get onto it and caught it on the volley into the far corner, so I was pretty pleased with a good finish.

“The second goal, we’ve talked about putting balls into the box and that was what happened. The ball was at a deeper area, Steve Bradley gets it at his feet and with the quality he has, I knew I could peel off and he’s found me at the back post, so I’ve managed to nod it in across the goalie.”

The tie at home to Musselburgh means Shaw will have some friendly rivalry with their boss Liam Burns.

He said: “A home tie was important, Musselburgh will be another tough game.

“We’ll be favourites to win because of the league differences, but we know we need to be right at it to avoid any slip-ups.

“I know their manager, I know a lot of their players there, so I’ve had a few messages from them back and forward already, looking for ward to the game.

READ MORE: Hamilton Accies face more injury woes as defender faces spell on the sidelines

READ MORE: Hamilton Accies boss blasts 'unacceptable' display but is happy to progress

“We’ll focus on that when it comes around, but before that we have a few important league games.”

Shaw bagged 16 goals for Kilmarnock in season 2021/22 and admits he would like to get to that total again in the second tier.

He said: “I feel good. Getting a run of games, scoring goals, I’m really enjoying my football, working under the manager, John Rankin.

“I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and I’m pleased with how I’m performing right now.

“I had a good spell at Kilmarnock, that’s probably the last time I played prolonged period of games.

“It would be good to equal or surpass that total. It’s not really something I’ve thought about too much, I just take each game as it comes. If I score, I score, if I don’t, I’ll try to help the team in other ways.

“But there’s always that wee target there to try and beat, and hopefully I can manage to do that.

“As a striker you kind of put that onus on yourself to score goals, so doing that at the moment has been a positive and I’ve really enjoyed it.

“For me it was about getting back playing again and I knew the goals would come, especially with the quality we have in this team, creating chances,.

“If I can help the team in any way it’s a positive, and hopefully we can keep climbing the table and picking up points along the way.”

Hamilton travel to Dunfermline on Saturday, with a 3pm kick-off.

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on X via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.