Hamilton boss John Rankin says there’s no point in his side feeling sorry for themselves after a 1-0 defeat at Arbroath landed them back at the foot of the Championship table.
A straight red card for defender Dan O’Reilly 10 minutes into the second half compounded a situation where Bobby Linn had given the hosts the lead just ahead of the interval.
It also didn’t help that first-choice keeper Ryan Fulton pulled up during the warm-up, with young Jamie Smith making his first start of the season.
Accies were unable to get back into the game, and Rankin hopes for a reaction when eighth-placed Cove Rangers visit New Douglas Park on Saturday.
Rankin said: “Losing the goal before half-time is probably the key moment that changes the game, rather than the red card.
“We got in at half-time and, to be fair, by that point we’ve had maybe five shots in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
“Andy Ryan has two, Andy Winter hits one off the goalkeeper’s forehead – I don’t know how that happens – and we have some really good chances, but don’t take them.
“There’s a mistake; Scott Martin plays a blind pass to Dan, and Dan dives in.
“I’m not sure it’s a red, I can see why the referee has given it, but at the end of the day it changes the ascendency.
“We were on the front-foot, creating chances, and it seemed to be only a matter of time before we scored the goal, but these things change games and we had to adapt.
“There's no point in feeling sorry for ourselves. We went down to 10 men, and a lot of things went against us yesterday, but we’re not in a position to sit and dwell on it.
“We need to deal with it, we need to get back in.”
Rankin added: “I had felt quite comfortable at 1-0 that we still had a chance in the game.
“The work-rate the boys were putting in at that point, when you’re 1-0 down, backs to the wall, down to 10 men, I thought the effort levels were really good.
“There’s not too much wrong with the performance, when you look on it. We were certainly in the game.
We tried to make the change, but still keep two up top to try and get something out of the game, so I can’t ask for any more in that aspect.
“It’s just disappointing that the goal changes the game at a vital time, just ahead of half-time.”
Hamilton now face a huge game against Cove, as they try to claw their way back up the Championship, and Rankin hopes for more of the spirit that saw them beat Inverness 1-0 last midweek.
He said: “When you look at the league it’s tight. We’re 11 points from the top of the league and you’re sitting bottom.
“Anybody can beat anybody, as we saw because we went and beat the team at the top of the league on Tuesday night – and deservedly so.
“We have to get ourselves going again, with a big game on Saturday against Cove.
“I could see the confidence we took from Tuesday night in the chances we created yesterday, but at the end of the day we never took anything out of the game.
“It’s now the case that we need to respond again on Saturday.”
Dan O’Reilly is suspended on Saturday, as is midfielder Scott Martin.
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