Imrie sets the standard

Dougie Imrie says Hamilton’s displays against Rangers and Kilmarnock are the standard they have now set for the rest of the season.

The midfielder says anybody who isn’t hitting that benchmark will find themselves out of the team, and can only blame themselves.

Imrie, who bagged his first goal of the season in the 1-1 draw at Killie on Saturday, said:“to come down here, which is now a fortress for them, and put in that level of performance is the catalyst for the rest of the season for us.

“That’s the performance everyone’s got to put in – there are no excuses any more.

“We know how we can perform, and the gaffer said to us before the game that even though we got beat 4-1 by Rangers, for 80 minutes we were more than in the game. We were disappointed to lose the three goals at the end, but for the vast majority of that game we defended really well and we carried that on to Saturday.

“The last two games is the level of consistency that everyone needs to put in between now and the end of the season, and if you don’t, and you’re not playing, then you know why.

“It’s important to pick up points because you don’t want to get yourself drifted away. A gap is starting to appear already.

“We have to stay positive, keep playing the way we are, and hopefully pick up more points than we have been.”