Another survival fight in store for Canning
In club circles a certain disquiet will surely have followed the Lanarkshire side’s pallid showing in the Betfred Cup, with Martin Canning’s side exiting at the group stage after only one win and a mere five goals from their four games.
Ahead of the resumption of competitive action, it was felt the Scottish game’s great top-flight escapologists had firmly lost their favourites-for-thedrop tag. Clamped to this most modestly supported club through a record four unbroken seasons in the upper tier, the experiences gained in defying all odds and predictions seemed to give them
Tcrucial advantages over promoted pair Livingston – especially – and St Mirren.
Now, the threat to their status suddenly seems more pronounced with the loss of last season’s key figures Ali Crawford and David Templeton taking on greater importance.
Canning, below, must rustle up a potent attacker from somewhere in the closing weeks of the transfer window if he has to have real confidence that he has the necessary armoury for what will be another almighty survival fight. The club have shown that they can produce the unexpected and come through some perilous scrapes. Indeed, that seems to have become their hallmark. They must always recognise, though, that you can push your luck too far. here’s been such a turnover of players at Accies this year that it’s hard to know what to expect this season. After our collapse towards the end of last season, it was clear that an overhaul was badly needed, although we’re going to miss the creativity of David Templeton, Ali Crawford and Danny Redmond. Lots of new players have arrived and, in a strategy that has worked out well for other clubs, we’re now using the English lower league market for recruitment. The Betfred Cup run was pretty awful and that ghastly showing at Annan was a bad way to start the season. Things can only get better as the new guys settle in.
My ambition for the season is, as always, to stay in the top flight again. I think we have every chance of doing that.