When the cheering eventually ended it was replaced with a collective sigh of relief. Motherwell took a big support to New Douglas Park and they left knowing that the team had more work to do despite the narrow derby win.
The manager did not hold back when he was asked about the importance of the result. He described it as massive but echoed the feeling in the crowd when he talked of the feeling of relief. He added his belief that we won the physical battle.
Big Ben rises to the occasion
There's no doubt that our troops gave their all for the cause. They maintained an excellent work rate throughout and refused to buckle as Hamilton pushed hard for a late equaliser. Griffiths was rarely called into action but he deserves credit for the fine stop he made when D'Acol had a great chance to put out hosts into the lead.
Accies must hate the sight of Louis Moult. He has scored six times against them this season and the unbeaten eight points earned from our four meetings are partly the reason for our current three point lead..
There was appreciation for the support given by our travelling fans. Hamilton indicated that 2,312 were behind us, easily our biggest backing away from Fir Park this season. Another bumper crowd on Tuesday might see us over the line.
Canning bemoaned the loss of another goal from the set piece and, with cat calls of Accies fans still fresh, he talked of their need to win the last two games. But the outcome of battle at the bottom is out of his hands.
With two games remaining the chat in the exits was all about the demands of the next two games. We are now in full speculation mode but everyone agreed on the importance of Tuesday's game against Kilmarnock. At least we now have control of our own destiny, all that remains is to press home the advantage.