Andy Winter scored a hat-trick as Hamilton produced a stunning fightback against 10-man Alloa to reach the cinch Championship play-off final.

The Accies trailed 2-0 on the day and 3-0 on aggregate in their semi-final before Winter’s heroics and a Dario Zanatta double saw them rally in remarkable fashion at New Douglas Park to go through 5-3 overall.

Hamilton had looked in danger of dropping to League One as Conor Sammon opened the scoring after only five minutes and Stefan Scougall added a second just after the half-hour from a penalty rebound.

Yet by then Alloa had already seen George Stanger sent off for two bookable offences and that was to prove costly.

Zanatta began the fightback on 37 minutes and four more goals followed in a blistering 15-minute spell either side of half-time.