A TIME TO BE STREETWISE
Rice calls for his Accies side to cut out sloppy mistakes
Brian Rice has told Hamilton to cut out silly mistakes and see out games – starting at Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Accies conceded a late goal against Ross County to draw 2-2 on Saturday, having lost a one-goal lead to lose 3-2 at St Johnstone last weekend, with a 1-0 defeat at home to Aberdeen in midweek.
In all three instances, the Accies head coach has pointed to individual errors, and said they need to tighten up ahead of their trip to Rugby Park.
“It would have been a massive win for us, but it’s just the way it’s going at the minute,” said Rice.
“We lost the last-minute goal last week through slack play, we lost a poor second goal this week, and it was through a bit of naivety.
“We’ve scored four goals against two teams that are round about us in the league, so we’re making chances, we’re scoring them, but we need to tighten it up and we need to be a wee bit more game-wise.”
Rice was disappointed to concede a late leveller against County, when it looked like Accies could grab their first win in six games.
He felt that Hamilton dominated the game, but lapses in concentration came back to haunt them.
“I’m really disappointed for the lads,” he said. “I thought we dominated most of the match.
“They scored early on, a stupid mistake from us again, and something I’m really angry about, because we practice our kickoff.
“A couple of people did things they’ve not to do, but we regrouped, we got together, had a lot of possession and a lot of balls into the box, without really testing their keeper, though we had one or two wee half-chances.
“In the second half it was all one-way traffic, so I’m really disappointed for the boys.
“In the last five or six minutes we were pinned back a wee bit, but for the first 80 minutes we’ve tried to win the match as best we could. I thought at 2-1 we might see this through.”
Rice added: “It’s a group of young kids out there who haven’t played a lot together, we haven’t got a lot of experience, and we’re just missing that wee bit of experience.
“The injured boys who have that bit of experience could maybe help the kids a wee bit there.
“It’s two or three stupid things that we do – that I expect from young kids – but they will learn, they will learn quickly, so it’s a brilliant experience for them.”
Hamilton travel to Ayrshire minus Scott Martin, whose late red card for violent conduct has resulted in a two-game ban. He will also miss the visit by Rangers on November 24.