Rice: Survival in our hands after massive win
Brian Rice believes Hamilton will pull off an achievement akin to that of climbing Everest in flip-flops if they manage to stay up.
With just two of their Premiership fixtures remaining, Accies sit in bottom place.
They trail Kilmarnock, who are 11th, by two points and are three behind Ross County with both teams still to play.
However, after watching his team dig deep to record their first win in 10 with a 2-1 triumph at St Mirren, their manager is daring to dream.
“I’m absolutely delighted to come and win. It’s massive. It’s going to go down to the last game.
“It was always in our hands. You can only ask for things to be in our hands, we deserved to win the match and we prepare for Ross County.
“Everyone gave it their all today. People throw their bodies on the line every week and that is what we need.
“St Mirren have a really good squad with really good young players coming through.
“It’s not belief in the squad I need; it’s getting my quality players on the pitch that’s been the problem.
“My flair players have all been injured. I can’t ask for any more than I am getting from the boys who are out there.
“How big an achievement would staying up be? It would be like climbing Everest with your flip-flops on.
“It would be the biggest achievement I’ve ever achieved, with what we’ve been through.”
Scott McMann, the Accies captain in the absence of the injured Brian Easton, echoed his manager’s bullishness.
“We know the next two games means it’s in our hands. We need to win and we know what we need to do,” he said.
“The boys don’t feel unconfident, we feel we’ve got it in us to win games.
“We got the rub of the green and scored the goals we needed to. It’s just the club, it’s that never-say-die attitude.
“I’d rather not be where we are but we have been here before and we can use that to our advantage and not panic.”
Accies complete their season with a trip to Dingwall to face Ross County on Wednesday week – the same night Killie are playing Motherwell – before entertaining Tommy Wright’s side at Hamilton on Sunday the 16th.
“We will focus on our own games rather than looking to others to help us,” said McMann.
“We went to Dingwall and beat Ross County before (2-0) so we have confidence we can do the same again.
“As I say, our mindset is to win both games. Hopefully we can take maintain it throughout.”