PLACES UP FOR GRABS
Canning settling on his best team combination
Martin Canning has told his entire Hamilton squad that they can play their way into the first team, but only if they work hard enough.
The Accies gaffer was left fuming after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Livingston, with particular frustration levelled at the lack of a threat up front.
Canning admits with such a big squad it’s going to take time to settle on the best combination, but says that’s where hard work from the players comes in.
He said: “We have a strong squad of players and that doesn’t mean we will be chopping and changing week on week – we have to get the consistency, we have to get the team right, and at the minute there is so much competition for places that it will take us a couple of weeks to find our strongest team.
“That gives everybody the opportunity to go and stake their claim, because there were a couple on Saturday who didn’t do as well as I would have liked.”
With back-to-back home games looming against St Mirren and Dundee, Canning knows Hamilton must get points on the board.
He said: “We need a marked improvement in the game against St Mirren, but I was looking for a marked improvement after the defeat to St Johnstone as well. In both games we just haven’t done enough – we haven’t looked enough of a threat.
“Defensively on Saturday I thought we did really well, looked solid and I wasn’t concerned about that. The thing that’s in my mind just now is the lack of quality, going forward, and that needs to improve drastically.”
Canning added: “There weren’t any positives to take out of the game on Saturday. It was so disappointing and the quality on the ball for us was really poor.
“In the first half the bravery to go and play and the quality was lacking. In the second half the quality up to the strikers and their ability to take the ball and get us further up the pitch... every bit of it was lacking, which was really disappointing.
“That’s taking nothing away from Livingston; they make it difficult for you to play. They’re aggressive, they press well, and if the ball does come up to their striker there’s good contact. We didn’t deal with them well enough.
“In saying all of that, we’ve ultimately lost the game to a worldie, to a wonderful strike. I don’t think Livingston had many clear-cut chances other than that, so it was always going to be a tight game, a towsy game, and it was going to be a mistake or one bit of quality that won the game.
“It was frustrating. You know, coming here, that it’s going to be a difficult team to play against, they do what they do really well, and if you don’t match or better it you’re not going to win the game, and that’s what happened.
“They did their job well, they got the fantastic goal, but we didn’t do our job as well as we could have.”