Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin believes his team should not give themselves the appearance of a mountain after early errors in every half led them in defeat to Raith Rovers and back to the bottom of the Championship table.
A Dylan Easton strike after five minutes, and an Aidan Connolly penalty five minutes into the second period came in the wake of an equaliser from John Pierre-Tiehi for Accies. Then Liam Diack’s strike in the 80th minute ended the game for Rovers.
Rankin was left angry with his team after they did not show the same fighting spirit that helped them rally from 4-1 down to draw Cove Rangers in their last game.
He also says that they need to quit giving themselves so much work to dig themselves out of the relegation rut.
He added: “Conceding five minutes into either half isn’t optimal and puts you in the wrong immediately.
“That is the opportunity to climb a mountain it must be removed from the game completely.
“Once we got ourselves back together after scoring the first goal, we were really strong and made some excellent opportunities.
“We have a chance to play Tiehiprior to the half-time whistle located at the center of the box, and we need to make the most of it.
“It could have changed the game completely.
“But we’ve conceded one penalty towards the beginning of the second period. It was an unforced penalty in the moment, but it’s actually a corner that we’ve conceded in the first place.
“There there was not a reaction the penaltywhich is extremely disappointing because the reaction of losing 1-0 was present.
“The final goal is simply ignorance.
“You will experience youngsters to make mistakes, so it’s important to accept their mistakes, but you need to take them out in the most crucial areas of the field.
“Ultimately it is our responsibility to discover a way to get ourselves on top when it comes to games.
“When we’re ahead during games – which is what we witnessed at Inverness it is harder for opposition players to take you down , and you have more opportunities at the other side.”
Accies are now facing Rangers B in the SPFL Trust Trophy third round on Thursday night , before playing league leader Ayr United later on that night. Rankin is aware that they cannot afford to pass up opportunities for them to be successful this week.
