Canning pleads for patience after Ayr loss

MARTIN CANNING refused to make excuses after watching his side get off to the worst possible start in their Betfred Cup campaign, losing 2-1 to Ayr United.

The Hamilton manager said: ‘There’s no excuses, we should be expecting to come down here and win.

‘I thought we controlled the ball enough but didn’t create enough. We’re missing that bit of determination.’

Canning also pleaded for patience from fans who vented their frustrations towards him throughout the match. He added: ‘It’s the first game of the season and for what we do and given the size of our club, to maintain a Premiership status was the main thing.’

On a dreich day at Somerset Park, you would have been hard-pressed to work out which side was from the higher division as Accies went down with a whimper against their part-time opponents from the Championship.

Ayr made a dream start to the match, taking the lead thanks to a penalty after just 68 seconds. Alan Forrest, younger brother of Celtic star James, coolly slotted the ball low into the bottom corner after Darian MacKinnon was adjudged to have hauled down Ayr new boy, Daryll Meggatt, inside the area following a corner.

Hamilton huffed and puffed in search of a quick-fire leveller but looked rusty, misplacing passes and failing to create any clear openings.

Ayr nearly doubled their advantage after 32 minutes when Forrest was allowed to carry the ball unchallenged down the right-wing, eventually forcing debutant Hamilton keeper Remi Matthews into a smart near-post save.

Hamilton’s first clear-cut opportunity came five minutes from half-time, when Ali Crawford cleverly rolled a free-kick into the path of Dougie Imrie, but his tame shot from the edge of the area deflected weakly into the path of Greg Fleming in the Ayr goal to collect.

Ayr caught Hamilton on the hop in the same way they did the first to score an excellent second goal just four minutes after the re-start. This time Robbie Crawford cut in brilliantly from the right side before curling a cultured, leftfooted effort past a fully outstretched Matthews from the edge of the box.

Canning’s day went from bad to worse when centreback Jesus Garcia-Tena was stretchered off after 55 minutes with a suspected twisted knee after his studs appeared to get caught in the turf.

Louis Longridge scored a late consolation but it was Ayr who took all three points in this opening Betfred Cup Group G clash.