Hamilton boss Billy Reid thought James McArthur was very unfortunate to be shown a straight red card in their relegation tussle with Inverness which ended 1-1.

The young midfielder was given his marching orders by referee Charlie Richmond for a challenge on Inverness playmaker Filipe Morais in the second half. Reid believed it was a harsh decision and added that he felt the challenge only warranted a yellow card.

"I understand the laws of the game that if you raise your foot you are liable for sending off," he said. "I think at times a bit of common sense can prevail. I think James is one of the most committed players in the SPL."

He added: "He is continually diving into challenges but I don't think he is a dirty player. I thought he won the ball cleanly and Morais didn't seem to be badly hurt.

"The Inverness officials and players didn't seem to think it was a sending-off and I think a yellow card and a warning would have sufficed."

The Accies are now six points above Falkirk but the Hamilton boss said his side are focused on catching Motherwell to finish best of the bottom six, rather than getting caught up in the relegation battle.

"If we had won today we could have said that we were fine but, as I have said all along, we are trying to finish as high as we can," he said.

"We believe in what we are doing and with the spirit we have there is no reason why we can't finish as high as possible."

The Hamilton boss praised his side for their resilience to hold out for a draw against Inverness after being reduced to 10 men.

He added: "Tomas Cerny didn't have too much to do and we probably could have won it in the end through Richard Offiong who had the best chance of the game but unfortunately shot wide."