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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Ben Banks

John Rankin calls for Hamilton unity after disgruntled fans make voices heard in Dundee loss

Hamilton head coach John Rankin says his team and its supporters have to stick together after their Premier Sports Cup opener at Dundee ended in a 3-0 loss.

It was the former assistant's first competitive game in charge after taking over as boss and Niall McGinn put his men up against it with a first half goal.

Alex Jakubuiak's penalty just after half-time put the game just about beyond them and a mixture of Brian Easton's red card and Lyall Cameron's effort definitely did.

Queen's Park's victory over Stranraer means Accies are bottom of Group H heading into Tuesday's match against the Stair Park club.

Dundee are one of the teams Hamilton will compete with in this year's Championship and a section of the support booed and voiced their displeasure at the performance as the players walked off.

Rankin says the fans are allowed an opinion but some togetherness would be welcome: "It's the first game of the season and we have come away from home, losing 3-0.

"They are allowed to vent their frustration. But there's nobody more frustrated than myself. We need to get together. We need the fans behind us.

"It's a young group and I am sure that if they get behind us we will kick on and prove the doubters wrong."

Rankin was frustrated by the result and performance in what was the biggest test Accies have faced so far this campaign.

The head coach added: "It is really disappointing. I am really frustrated. In pre-season we have worked really hard but I didn't see the work ethic we have displayed so well in the first half.

"We probably wanted to feel safe within the game. This is the biggest test we have had so far and in the first half, the length of the game was too long for us to feel comfortably within it.

"I felt as if we were quite happy to sit in our own defensive end than squeeze the game. So we caused our own problems in the transitions. There's a huge amount of work to be done but I knew that anyway."

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