Stability is a key as Accies aim to bounce back from Hibs mauling
Dougie Imrie is delighted there’s no prospect of Hamilton Accies sacking manager Martin Canning. Two of the other three clubs in the bottom four – Dundee and St Mirren – have already replaced their boss. Accies, however, have stuck with Canning through thick and thin. Imrie believes that stability has paid dividends as the Lanarkshire club welcome Rangers this afternoon. He said: “It’s good the way the club does its business. The manager always has their backing. “In previous seasons we’ve had sticky patches but we’ve always come out of it. “A few seasons ago we went six games without a win, another season I think it was five without a win – but we got through it. “The manager has been excellent. This is our fifth season in the top division, so that stability has worked. “Even in a bad patch, we’ll always stick together as a unit and there’s nobody getting daggers here and there. “There will be bad spells, so it’s how you deal with them. “We always want to do better each season, but our main aim is to survive in this division and we always do that.” Canning isn’t the type of man looking for any endorsement from his players. He’s realistic when he considers the prospect of holding on to his managerial post. He said: “It’s great to get that backing. But obviously that doesn’t mean that I don’t know this is a results-driven business.
“We probably haven’t started the season as well as we’d have liked. “We also know we’re doing a good job, but it’s a difficult job. “It’s a case of working hard and trying to prove everyone wrong again.” One thing that has changed recently is the artificial pitch at Accies’ Hope Stadium. There haven’t been too many complaints about the surface so far, although Rangers boss Steven Gerrard most definitely isn’t a fan of playing on plastic. He will be hoping his men can cope with the pitch and record their first away league win of the campaign. Imrie is now 35, but has no concerns about training and playing on the pitch. He said: “Any new pitch that goes down is going to be better than what was there before. “This one is first class. “The club have spent a lot of money on it and it’s good to play on. “Other teams will look at it and quite fancy it, as it’s totally different to what was down last year. “There are no excuses for other clubs coming here now. “People look at artificial pitches and use it as an excuse for injuries, but I remember Jesus Garcia Tena doing his cruciate at Ayr, which is a grass park. “So injuries happen on both surfaces, not just astro-grass. “I think people try to highlight it and make it a bigger thing than it really is. “Over the years, when the bigger teams have come here and lost it’s always been blamed on the pitch. “It’s never because we’ve done well to nullify them, restrict them to very few chances and then create a few for ourselves. “That’s harsh on us. It’s too easy just to use the pitch as an excuse.” Accies are looking to bounce back from a 6-0 thrashing by shocking Rangers. Imrie went on: “That result at Hibs wasn’t great, but it’s how you react to that. There’s no time for sulking. “We’re focused on Rangers now. You can’t mope about losing 6-0 to Hibs, you have to try to put it right. “We know we can beat the bigger teams. Last season we won at Rangers and Hibs.”