Rice at boiling point over side’s ‘stupid’ defeat
Hamilton Accies manager Brian Rice claimed that his players shot themselves in the foot yesterday.
Faced with opponents who had gone down to 10 men with 67 minutes still to play, they failed to take advantage of the extra space and were deservedly beaten.
“We were really slow out of the blocks but, once we got the equaliser, we had control,” he said. “Kilmarnock were sitting in and trying to hit us on the counter.
“I said to the lads at half- time that they could only beat themselves by doing something stupid – and we did do something stupid. We tried to play a crazy pass that was intercepted and we’ve been punished.
“We didn’t show enough urgency and enough quality. It’s very difficult against ten men as it galvanises teams for some reason but the key is getting the next goal and Kilmarnock got it.
“We got the ball into good areas but our delivery and final pass and hold- up play needs to be better. Normally, we get decent crosses from wide areas but the strikers didn’t get any service.
“Our crosses were hitting the first man or going to the keeper.”
In truth, Accies were second to everything at Rugby Park and have only themselves to blame for failing to push further away from the drop zone.
None of their players was willing to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and, while Killie’s grit and determination was obvious, Accies were lacking in those qualities.
Even the fact that their squad had been weakened by positive tests for coronavirus wasn’t enough to explain their surrender here.
“There are no excuses,” said Rice. “I told them before the game we had all the excuses in the world if we wanted them but the fact is we just weren’t good enough and I am angry because we have beaten ourselves by doing something stupid.”
Unlike his Kilmarnock counterpart, Rice did think that former Accies striker Eamonn Brophy deserved to walk.
“I thought it was a red card,” he said. “I know the lad Brophy and there was no intent but if your foot is raised like that in this day and age there is no alternative for the referee – that was my gut feeling.”