Imrie using Killie’s away support as inspiration
DOUGIE IMRIE knows there won’t be more than a smattering of Hamilton supporters backing the team against Hearts at Tynecastle this afternoon.
Accies have always struggled to draw a crowd, especially on their travels, and the few hundred that make the Boxing Day journey through to the capital will barely be heard among 17,000 home fans.
That stands in stark contrast to the 2,200 who turned up at Hamilton on Saturday to offer Kilmarnock sustained vocal encouragement throughout the 1-1 draw.
Imrie is grateful to those Accies fans who do turn out to watch the team, and said he and the other players will simply continue to find their own motivation in the absence of any raucous backing from the stands.
“Kilmarnock brought a big support but they’re on a good run,” he said. “If you look back two or three years ago they maybe only brought about 300.
“So who’s to say that if we were to go on a run like that that we wouldn’t get more fans coming back to see the team playing well?
“If we could get a few extra thousand through the doors it would be fantastic.
“But we’ve just got to go with what we’ve got. It’s been the same since I came back five years ago. We know what it takes to get into the mindset needed to battle against teams when we’ve not got the biggest support behind us. But the fans who do come are fantastic and support us really well. We’re always grateful for that.
“When there’s not a lot of fans there you just have to generate your own motivation. We maybe only get 200-300 at away games and there will be 17,000 Hearts fans.
“We have to just do it for ourselves. It was the same at Ibrox recently; 52,000 of their fans and only a few of ours. You just need to focus on lifting yourselves.”
Both sides have struggled for form of late and Imrie hopes Hamilton can capitalise on Hearts’ frailties.
“Hearts aren’t playing so well so their confidence will be down and we have to try to take hope from that,” he added. “We have to put in the same performance we showed against Kilmarnock. We dug in for a result and that’s what we have to do between now and the end of the season. We know we’ve got it in us to do that.”
‘‘ Two or three years ago they maybe only brought about 300