Accies star Connor Smith insists he always belived his old Hearts mentor John Rankin was capable of turning things around at Hamilton.
And the Tynecastle loanee is hoping to keep up his fine form to guide Accies further away from the automatic relegation spot in the Championship.
Rankin was a youth coach at the Jambos before the switch to New Douglas Park and his move to bring 21-year-old Smith in on loan is paying off, with the the youngster netting three goals in his last three games.
Smith's latest strike came from the penalty spot in Tuesday night's massive 2-1 win over Inverness, which lifted Accies off the bottom of the Championship for the first time since November.
Accies are now two points clear of Arbroath and within two points of eighth-place Cove Rangers.
It had been far from rosey for Rankin until recently, but Smith insists he knew that would change.
He explained: "I've been in for a few weeks now and even before then I saw that the club were winning games, and I watched them beat Ross County in the [Scottish] cup.
"You could see there was a really good team here.
"I was talking to the gaffer and asking 'how is this team bottom of the league?'
"He said we just needed to get signings in, because it is hard when you've not got many players able to come off the bench.
"But now we have players in and changes can be made.
“I worked under John for nearly five years when he was at Hearts, so I know what he is like.
“He was honest with me, he said we needed to get off the bottom of the league but things will change.
"I came in and signed after that, and everything has fallen into place for me so far."
Smith added: "I’m pleased for him. I know how he trains and know they shouldn’t have been bottom of the league.
“To change it that quickly, for us to click a finger and it’s changed is massive for us, massive for the club and obviously massive for the gaffer.
“It’s weird calling him gaffer, I can tell you that, but he’s been brilliant.
"You can tell he’s ready for it. Since I’ve come in he’s been brilliant with all the players, brilliant with me.
“He’s exactly what I expected from him.”
Smith, whose elder brother Callum is an ex-Accie currently playing in League One with Airdrie, made his debut from the bench on January 28 in a 1-0 win at Partick.
Since then he has bagged goals in a 1-1 draw at home to Dundee, a 3-0 win at Inverness and in Tuesday's triumph having missed Hamilton's Scottish Cup defeat to his parent club Hearts on February 10.
It may be a step down from the Premiership but he is relsihing having a regular role under Rankin and hopes Accies can continue their run of five games unbeaten in the league when leaders Queen's Park come calling.
"As long as I am playing, I am happy," he said. "This is still a high level playing in the Championship so as long as I'm playing every week, getting goals and assists, I'm happy with that.
"After that I'll just wait and see what happens at the end of the season.
"We've got Queen's Park on Saturday, who are top of the league, so we will be massive underdogs. I think that helps us because teams will try and keep the ball against us.
"That doesn't faze us because we've been doing well hitting teams on the counter, keeping our shape and we've been very good lately."
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