JAMES McARTHUR captained Hamilton to a crucial 2-0 victory against Aberdeen and insisted that home form will be the key to his side's survival hopes.

The midfielder assumed the armband in the absence of suspended club captain Alex Neil, and earned praise from manager Billy Reid for his performance and leadership in the 2-0 win which moved the Lanarkshire side off the bottom of the table.

A Simon Mensing penalty and an impressive Richard Offiong strike helped Hamilton to both a third successive home win and clean sheet, and McArthur says he hopes his team can continue their run of results when they return to league action in 12 days after this week's Scottish Cup ties.

McArthur said: "This was a massive game for us - we need to win at home and take as many points as we can. In some ways, the cup gives you a rest from the SPL, but I would like to carry on in the league because we've been doing well recently.

"We knew that this stage of the season was the start of a run of games where we could try to take a lot of points.

"We've beaten Kilmarnock, Motherwell and now Aberdeen, who are a good side, and we need to continue that; hopefully we'll start getting wins to take ourselves away from the bottom of the table, but it's going to be hard in our first year in the top flight.

"The difference recently is that we've started to learn how to play in this league and we have adapted."

Hamilton saw top scorer Offiong sent off after receiving a second yellow card in injury time for booting the ball away, meaning he will be suspended for the home meeting with bottom side Inverness on Saturday week.

McArthur added: "He'll be a massive loss for us, because in the past few weeks he's really adapted and is starting to score goals - but we have other people in the squad who can hopefully come in and do the same job.

"Richard is just disappointed that he has been sent off, but it's happened now and there's nothing much you can do."