I can’t drop the subject
The survival battle is always on my mind says Accies boss Mart
MARTIN CANNING is constantly thinking about the threat of relegation.
But a Hamilton win over Dundee on Saturday might just give him some breathing space to think about something else as a massive weekend in the drop battle looms.
With the bottom four teams all playing each other – Partick Thistle entertaining rock-bottom Ross County on Friday before Accies travel to Dens Park – this could be a decisive weekend of action.
While Canning reckons it won’t be make or break he knows the battle of ninth and 10th at Dens is a chance to open a gap from the bottom two with just two games remaining.
Maybe then he’d be able to allow his mind to drift towards something other than Premiership survival.
Canning said: “It is hard to take your mind off things. I think about it constantly and there is nothing I can do to change that.
“I try to do other things but it is always at the forefront of my mind.
“Even now there could be wee things you pick up or see different that can give you a slight advantage to help you out of this situation. For me it is all about work, work and more work to try to get the results we need.
“This is another huge game for us. Partick play Ross County on Friday and that will probably make it even bigger because we will know what we have to do. We will be going there to win but we know it won’t be easy.
“Whatever team wins will have three teams below them with two games to go so it would be a good position to be in.”
Having won at Dundee already this season Canning’s men will go with belief, boosted further by the 2-0 win over Ross County to keep the Staggies rooted at the foot of the table.
That ended a run of six straight defeats and now he’s demanding his side build on that having stopped the rot.
Canning said: “We had to win last Saturday. In the first half it wasn’t a good game but once we scored we were excellent and could have made it three or four.
“We have beaten Dundee twice this year and they have beaten us 2-1 at home with a very late goal.
“We know we are capable of going up there and winning so we have to make sure we can handle the occasion like we did against Ross County.”
We know we are capable of going up there and winning MARTIN CANNING ON THE TRIP TO DENS PARK