MARTIN Canning today hit out at referee Euan Anderson for punishing his Hamilton players for the same offences he let their Aberdeen rivals get away with in their opening Ladbrokes Premiership match.

Canning’s side crashed to a 2-0 defeat to Derek McInnes’s team in their first league game of the 2017/18 campaign at Pittodrie yesterday after conceding goals to Anthony O’Connor and Miles Storey.

The Superseal Stadium club’s chances of getting a result were made more difficult when Xavier Tomas, the French centre half who was make his Premiership debut, was sent off in the second half for a second bookable offence.

Yet, Canning felt that match official Anderson had allowed himself to be influenced by the 15,165-strong crowd and hadn’t taken the same disciplinary action against the home team as he had against the visitors.

He said: “I would say the referee was very inconsistent. He booked (Georgios) Sarris for persistent fouling, but (Graeme) Shinnie must have made five or six fouls. If that’s not persistent, then I don’t know what is.

“There was a lot that went against us, but that’s what happens to smaller clubs when the crowd is against you. I don’t want to see players getting sent off, but if you’re going to book my players for persistent fouling then it has to work both ways.”

However, Canning was proud of how his side, tipped to be relegated to the Championship by many pundits this season, performed against Aberdeen away from home in their opening Premiership outing and is confident they can once again defy their doubters in the coming months.

“We’re disappointed to lose, but it was always going to be a difficult start at Aberdeen,” he said. “Credit to the players. They were always in the game, even with 10 men. You always get the honesty and workrate from us.

“We had a few chances that we didn’t put away and we got hampered by the man going off. But we never allowed the heads to go down. If we continue to work as hard as that, we’ll do okay. We can take some confidence. There will be teams who play worse here.”

Canning, whose side meet Aberdeen at home on Wednesday night in the last 16 of the Betfred Cup, believes Tomas will be able to bounce back from his ordering off and will be a key player for Hamilton this season.

“I didn’t see the red card,” he said. “If he has pulled him back then it’s a second yellow and a red. Xavier is an experienced guy, but I’ll have chat with him. He was up for today as it was his league debut. It’s not gone how he wanted it to go. He’s been in the game long enough to come through games he’s not done so well in. We’ll pick him back up and I am sure he will still be a good signing.”

Meanwhile, McInnes has predicted Scott Wright, the 19-year-old winger who was one of Aberdeen’s star performers yesterday, can fulfil his potential and become a better player than both Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn.

“I see a difference in him,” he said of a player who will turn 20 tomorrow. “He has taken a lot of confidence from the Partick game last season. But even in the weeks before that I could sense

“He has watched Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn be our wide players for the last four years or so so it has been difficult getting him in. It was unrealistic to expect them to be at their level when he is 17, 18 , 19, but he certainly has the potential to be that and more. We feel he is someone who will get better with game time.”

“He is really friendly with Ryan Christie. I think with Ryan being in the team and Scott getting confidence from playing with certain players that he is only going to get better. His team mates all trust him. As a one-to-one wide player who can commit people he is exciting to watch and work with.”