Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin admits he got his selection wrong against Clyde and only a QUADRUPLE substitution at half-time helped them turn things around to reach the SPFL Trust Trophy semi-finals.
Rankin made seven changes from Saturday's narrow league defeat at Ayr and his men were left shell-shocked at the break, as League One Clyde went in 2-1 to the good.
Ex-Accie Ross Cunningham and Paul Kennedy had struck either side of Fergus Owen's effort for the hosts, which was his first goal for the club, to put Jim Duffy's men in front.
Accies turned to the bench at the interval with Brian Easton, Michael Doyle, Ryan One and Gabe Forsyth making way for Dan O'Reilly, Tom Sparrow, Scott Martin and Andy Winter.
That gave them the spark they needed as they turned the game on its head, with John-Pierre Tiehi firing home an equaliser after 53 minutes and sub O'Reilly grabbing the winner nine minutes from time to set up a semi-final clash with Queen of the South next month.
Accies also had a lucky escape at the death when Kurtis Roberts hit the post for Clyde and relieved Rankin said: "I will take responsibility for the first half. I hold my hands up for the performance.
"I didn't underestimate Clyde, I just thought we would have had enough to go on and put in a better performance and show more enthusiasm than what we did in the first half.
"The performance wasn't great so we had to change it at half-time, bringing on players with experience who have been there and done it has helped.
"They came on with the bit between their teeth, having been left out at the start of the night.
"They knew we were relying on them to influence the game and I think they really did.
"Scotty Martin came on and stamped his authority in the middle of the pitch, Andy Winter was running the lines well, Tom Sparrow came on and added energy and legs and Dan gave us a bit of reassurance in the backline and ended up getting a goal.
"When we put them on the pitch we knew what we were getting. There's a trust there.
"We look at our league games and we are struggling to score goals, but that is now three against Rangers B, four against East Kilbride, two against Inverness and three against Clyde - so we can score goals.
"Hopefully that gives players confidence going into the league games now."
The win was a welcome one away from their struggles in the Scottish Championship.
Accies have won just twice in 20 games but their run in the cup means they have now won double the amount of games in the SPFL Trust Trophy - four - than they have in the league.
But Rankin hopes this result will be the one that kicks them on.
He added: "The objective was to get into the next round and that is the main thing.
"It's a cup run and a good wee break from the league that has helped us get back to winning ways, so we now just want to transfer that to the league.
"Everybody wants to be involved in big games.
"Now they will all be looking forward to try and play in a game to get to a final, so that is a big incentive for them to show good league form to keep themselves in the team.
"There is a good bit of time between now and playing Queen of the South so we will worry about that when it comes.
"It's a game we will look forward to."
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