Furious Hamilton Accies boss blasts side for 'gifting' Inverness win

Furious Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says his side gave away the three points to Inverness tonight, that have left them on the brink of a relegation play-off.

Connor Smith's brilliant free kick was cancelled out by Nathan Shaw's strike, with veteran Billy McKay clipping in a late winner to leave Hamilton just two points above Cove Rangers and four behind Arbroath in eighth.

Hamilton host promotion-chasing Partick Thistle on Saturday, while Abroath host Cove.

Accies then have a free weekend while others play, as they head to Arbroath on the final day of the season.

Rankin says Accies are down, but not yet out.

He said: "I'm absolutely furious that we got ourselves in front and they came back, and we managed to give away three points tonight.

"It's a sore one. When we go 1-0 up we didn't defend well enough - it's probably as bad as we've defended for the two goals.

"The first goal was really poor - three times we could have stopped the game or cleared our lines. We didn't take it, and it was just bad decisions.

"And then the ball ends up in our net, we respond with a really good chance that we must take, and the defending for the second goal is probably worse than it was for the first.

"I knew it would be a tough game, Inverness have been tough opponents for us all season, but we got ourselves into the lead, and then made the wrong decisions at the wrong times when we were 1-0 up."

On Saturday's visit by Thistle, Rankin said: "We just need to go and try and get three points again on Saturday. We need to lift the players and get them ready to go again.

"It's a sore one tonight, especially being in a winning position, to lose three points, but we need to get going again."

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