Accie: ‘Cut the errors or we’ll go back down’
Hamilton Accies midfielder Darian Mackinnon bemoaned his side’s defensive deficiencies last night and warned his team-mates that if they don’t eliminate the basic individual errors which are proving so costly to them, they are likely to return to the Championship next season.
Accies remain in ninth place – above Dundee by a single point – but they face a crunch game against bottom club Partick Thistle at Firhill on Saturday.
Mackinnon is just keeping his fingers crossed that they don’t shoot themselves in the foot yet again.
“That was a kick in the teeth,” he said. “It’s just frustrating but you just can’t leave Kris Boyd standing on his own in your six-yard box – that’s just criminal defending.
“We were well warned about that beforehand but it’s mistakes like that which are costing us games and they could cost us our place in this division if we don’t sort that out.
“We got back into the game thanks to Temps coming on and delivering that wee bit of quality from the free-kick.
“It was a scrappy match, to be fair, but when you’re at home and you score that goal then you expect to go on and win the game.
“But then we leave Boydie alone in the six-yard box . I don’t know how you can do that – it’s just madness.
“At the start they were on top but we were outnumbered in the middle of the park – it was two against four so they were dominating the ball and we couldn’t get near anyone.
“The gaffer changed it and put Ali Crawford on Gary Dicker and that’s when we started to get a stranglehold on the game.
“We finished the first half the stronger team but after that it was scrappy again and we made mistakes again.
“Of course, it helps that we’ve been there before.
“It’s like anything else in life – you don’t want to be in this postition but knowing that you’ve got out of it already gives you an edge.
“But if we keep making these mistakes we’ll slowly slide down the table.”