Canning: No excuse for melee at County

Hamilton manager Martin Canning has condemned his players for losing control after the win over Ross County.

Ioannis Skondras was shown a straight red card after an ugly confrontation with severalcountyplayers,whichsaw both teams pile in. The defender was even face-to-face with referee Gavin Duncan at one point before being dismissed, and has since been charged by the Scottish FA with “excessive misconduct” and could be handed an extended ban.

Accies were also charged with failing to control their players – the second time they have been warned about their conduct following angry scenes at Tynecastle earlier in the month.

Canning has yet to decide on the club’s response to the charges, but said: “We have to try to control ourselves.

“I think (Ross County defender Kenny) Van der Weg kicked it off by pushing Ioannis and when that happens, both teams protect their teammates and given the amount of pressure on the game – and an 89th-minute goal – you can understand the emotion of the game boiling over, but it’s no excuse for us to have a player sent off.”

Skondraswillmisssaturday’s game against Partick and one other, with a possible 16-match banhangingoverhimandcanning added: “We will see where we go, but one thing is for certain and that’s that we will lose him for the next two games through his red card anyway.” Falkirk have announced plans to scrap their academy from the end of the year as they focus on gaining promotion back to the Ladbrokes Premiership.

After eight seasons in the Championship, the Bairns have made the decision to stop funding the Forth Valley Football Academy to focus resources on achieving promotion back to the top flight.

The club have made financial losses in the previous two years and expect that to continue given their current form.

Chairwoman Margaret Lang said in a statement: “We want to be a Premiership football club, and to achieve this, our first team needs to be our absolute focus. As a result, the decision has been taken to prioritise the use of available resources in our first team. From 31st December onwards, Falkirk Football Club will therefore cease its funding of the Forth Valley Football Academy.” The club also announced an intention to reconsider player recruitment, with Sunderland’s Tommy Robson set to join in January.

A statement from the academy read: “This has implications for the future of this academy. The board of FVFA consists of representatives of East Stirlingshire FC, Falkirk FC and Stenhousemuir FC. We will meet shortly to discuss what this means for us and what the next steps should be.”