Football Club

Spanish striker Albert Manteca could have thrust himself into pole position for a contract with Hamilton Accies after scoring against Stirling Albion.

The 23-year-old, previously with Gava in Segunda B, grabbed the opener as Accies won Saturday’s friendly 2-0.

Accies manager Billy Reid will not make a decision on any of the trialists until four more matches this week.

But he told BBC Scotland: “Albert has not done any training at all, came in on Friday and looked fine.”

Reid last summer plucked Marco and Flavio Paixao after leaving Cultural Leonesa and Benidorm respectively.

The Portuguese twins have since become cult heroes at New Douglas Park and Reid has been encouraged to again scour the lower divisions in Spain for talent.

“There is a lot of talent out there,” said Reid, whose side comfortably steered clear of relegation in the Scottish Premier League last season.

He completely changed his team at half-time in the victory over First Division champions Stirling.

“To make a judgement after 45 minutes of a game would not be fair, so we will see how they do our next four games,” added the manager.

Hamilton take on Queen’s Park on Monday, Queen of the South on Tuesday, juniors Dundee North End on Wednesday then have a closed-doors game against Wigan Athletic on Friday.