Canning wants reaction

MARTIN CANNING has identified tomorrow’s visit of Rangers as the ‘perfect game’ for Hamilton to wipe away the embarrassment of their 6-0 hammering by Hibernian. The Lanarkshire side have been stewing over their humiliation by Neil Lennon’s men at Easter Road before the international break. And now Canning has urged his players to rectify matters — and hopefully consign that capitulation to history — with a vastly improved performance against Steven Gerrard’s Rangers. ‘This should be the perfect game after the Hibs match,’ said Canning. ‘As players and managers you want to be involved in big games, the ones on the TV against a big club. ‘As players they shouldn’t need to get motivated because that should be their motivation in itself. The fact we lost the last game so poorly against Hibs should be another thing that makes them ready to go. We have spoken about that. ‘You don’t want to go into an international break on the end of a bad defeat. We used the time well to work on a few things and hopefully we can put that into practice on Sunday.’ The defeat in Edinburgh left Hamilton ninth in the Premiership table and a mere three points ahead of bottom club Dundee. One major positive for the Accies is that Gerrard’s side have struggled on the road domestically. The Gers are still to win an away league match this season. ‘I think Rangers might have struggled away from home because of the competitive nature of the league this year,’ said the Accies boss. ‘Don’t get me wrong, the top teams are still up there, but anyone can beat anyone on their day. That is what we have to try and do on Sunday — make sure it is our day.’