McCarthy rewarded for fine form

Hamilton's teenage midfielder James McCarthy has been named the Clydesdale Bank Premier League young player of the month for December.

The 18-year-old has again proved his raw talent for Billy Reid's side this season and excelled in the 2-0 win over Motherwell at New Douglas Park last month in particular, when he struck both goals in the win.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international, who reportedly rejected the chance of a schoolboy contract with Premier League giants Liverpool in the summer of 2007, recently signed a new Hamilton deal to keep him at the club until 2011.

And the youngster is delighted with the side's progress recently, as he told the BBC: "We started the season great and then had a sticky patch but we're starting to pick up points at home.

"That's three games (in a row) at home we've won so it's a good run and hopefully we can keep it going.

"We know we're good enough to play in the SPL. There's a lot of great teams but we believe in ourselves and we know we can stay up this season as we've got a good team."