WE NEED TO DO BETTER
Canning wants improvements ahead of crucial run
Taking a point from a game in which you haven’t been at your best is a sign of a team on the up, and Hamilton boss Martin Canning hopes that’s the case.
The Accies gaffer says the 2-2 draw at Ross County provided a good point, but says improvements must be made ahead of an absolutely crucial run of games.
Hamilton are idle this weekend but travel to St Johnstone next Wednesday, followed by a trip to Kilmarnock on Saturday.
A midweek journey to Edinburgh to face Hibs follows on April 3, before hosting Celtic in a lunch-time kick-off on April 8.
At least three points anywhere in that sequence probably saves Accies from automatic relegation, and Canning hopes they step up their form.
He said: “It’s a very good point. We weren’t at our best and to come away from a difficult place, having managed to grind out a point, was good.
“It’s seven points from nine in three big games, so it’s a huge point for us. It gains us a point on Dundee and Partick Thistle, and it keeps the same [eight points] between us and Ross County, but the performance has to be better.
“I thought the desire we showed to win the game against Motherwell, in the first half in particular, wasn’t the same. We were on the back-foot, we were second to things and in the second half it was different.
“At this time of the season it’s important that you’re hitting a bit of form, and in the last two games we were really good in terms of getting the results.
“On Saturday it was a different type of performance, we had to grind out a point, but it’s a point well taken.
“Winning the game would have been fantastic, not losing the game was equally important, and that’s why it’s a good point.
“I don’t think our record up here is fantastic, and games typically go that way.
“If you had asked me at half-time if I would have taken a point I would definitely have said ‘yes,’ so the only thing that sours it a little bit is that we’ve gone 2-1 up then conceded from a set-piece. However, on the balance of play, I don’t think you can deny Ross County a point from that game.”
Canning added: “We play St Johnstone on Wednesday, which is going to be a huge game, and from there that leads us into a busy period where we have Kilmarnock, Hibs, Celtic and then Kilmarnock again.
“It’s going to be a busy period, but we have two games in hand over the teams round about us as well, and we can have a real go in the games and try to take three points. That has to be our mind-set between now and the end of the season.
“Every game is a massive opportunity to get three points and every three points you can get takes you further and further away from the bottom of the league, so that has to be our focus.”