Hamilton Accies 3 Stirling Albion 0: Rankin pleased by players' response to criticism after comfortable win

By Ian Steven

Hamilton manager John Rankin was “absolutely delighted” after witnessing his Hamilton Accies side smash three past a dogged Stirling Albion.

A missed penalty from Akheem Rose was the only blip during the afternoon as a Kevin O’Hara tap in, a Rose header and his first goal in the stripes of Hamilton for Jake Hastie was enough to see off the Binos and extend Hamilton’s unbeaten run.

Rankin praised his players for their attitude in training over the past week after a lacklustre performance against Edinburgh City last Saturday, citing their assurance as the driving force in the Lanarkshire club’s three-goal haul.

“They were quiet last week”, the manager stated. “They were disappointed with the performance and quite rightly so. Those performances and results breed confidence. If you are winning 1-0 and not playing well, that is the sign of a good team.

"They took the criticism on board this week, they trained brilliantly. they trained really, really well, considering the performance last week, getting booed of the pitch.

"It felt like a defeat after it. The boys trained great, the atmosphere was great and I thought they played some really good football against a tough Stirling Albion side.”

Accies got off to a fast start and Binos defender Paul MacLean hauled down Akheem Rose in the box after 15 mins, but the striker could not find a way past Blair Currie from the penalty spot.

Currie was not as surehanded five minutes later, spilling a Reghan Tumilty shot from long distance into the path of Kevin O’Hara for the simplest of tap ins.

O’Hara turned provider five minutes after the restart – floating a near post cross for Rose to attack and glance his header into the net.

Accies added a third in injury time as a