Brian Easton believes Saturday's clash with Arbroath is the perfect game for Accies to bounce back from their painful weekend defeat to Raith Rovers.
After three consecutive draws and promising performances, Accies produced a dismal display as a Dylan Easton strike inside 65 seconds and a late Jamie Gullan effort saw Raith end their unbeaten start.
It sets up a real battle this weekend with eighth place Accies hosting rock bottom Arbroath, who were pushing for the title in the Championship last term.
But skipper Easton reckons it is just the test Accies need.
He said: "Games against Arbroath are always tough. You have to be ready for a battle so if you are going to bounce back from a game where you've not laid a glove on anyone, it's Arbroath.
"If you don't do that against them you will get beat.
"So we need to be really up for it and get flying.
"We want to get back to those first two games, where a lot of our stuff was really good.
"We are still improving and we are going in the right direction, so we need to correct this performance next week."
Vice captain and striker Andy Ryan is currently sidelined and last week boss John Rankin confirmed their key man will be out for 2-3 months.
Accies certainly missed their talisman against Raith as they rarely threatened the visitors' goal.
Easton says while his absence is a huge blow, others need to step up to the plate.
He added: "Chucky [Ryan] is a big player for us. Not only with his quality, but with his leadership on the pitch and the changing room.
"It happens in football, where you get injuries and you have important players missing.
"The next guy has to step up and do a job when that happens. That's why they are here and that's what is expected of them.
"We are hurting but the only thing we can do is put it right in the next game."
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