Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says his side has to get back up with boxing gloves on when they get knocked down.
But he again pleaded with his side to stop conceding sloppy goals, after Cove Rangers ran out 2-0 winners at the Balmoral Stadium last night.
A Leighton McIntosh double in the last six minutes of the game saw all three points stay in Aberdeenshire, leaving Accies rock bottom of the Championship, 10 points behind their opponents, and three off second-bottom Arbroath, albeit with a game in hand.
Frustrated Rankin says defending has to be better, but Hamilton also have to start taking their chances.
He told the club’s website: “I don’t think there’s a lot in the game and it becomes the case that the first goal is vitally important, and at that time it could have gone either way.
“It’s really frustrating and disappointing to concede the goals in the way we did.
“It has to be better. We have to improve, we have to strive for more.
“If we get knocked down, we have to get back up with boxing gloves on to go again.”
Hamilton had chances to take the lead and in the first half probably edged it on chances created, but again drew a blank.
Rankin said: “There’s not a lot in the game. It gets to the second half, it’s 0-0, nearly the latter stages, and I thought we had two really good chances.
“Andy Ryan goes round the goalkeeper, hits the side-netting, and from our angle it looks as if it’s going in.
“Smithy [Lewis Smith] also has a good chance and the goalkeeper makes a good save, so there are chances in the game.
“At 0-0 I felt it could have gone either way, both teams were on the attack and causing problems, but from our point of view it’s a really bad goal to concede.
“The ball gets played into the box and we don’t think it’s a corner, so we don’t clear the lines.
“From then on in it’s about defending our own box, being aggressive in our box, and when the corner comes in I don’t think anybody touches it and it goes in at the back post.
“From our point of view it’s a really sloppy goal to concede.
“Going into the final bit of the game we have wee half-chances and we huff and puff, but Cove obviously got the second goal.
“Again, we allow them inside, it’s a soft goal, and he gets a shot at goal when we’ve got to try and keep him away from the danger area.
“It’s really disappointing and frustrating, especially after the chances we created at 0-0.”
Rankin said: “The message to the players has to be ‘stop conceding sloppy goals’.
“When the ball gets played into our box we have to defend our box better – we speak about that, the players speak about that, and we felt comfortable in the game.”
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