Hamilton Accies boss admits Arbroath gamble didn't pay off in search for points

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin admits he threw the dice against Arbroath by making positive half-time changes, but said the players didn’t use the width of the pitch.

But Rankin was pleased to welcome back midfielder Marley Redfern in the 0-0 draw, who made his first appearance in over a year, following a series of injuries.

With Arbroath down to 10 men after Ricky Little was sent off for hauling down striker Jean-Pierre Tiehi, Rankin threw on Dario Zanatta and Ryan One for Tom Sparrow and Dylan Stephenson.

Redfern, 20, from Wishaw, made his appearance with 11 minutes left, replacing Lucas De Bolle, who was on a booking after a crunching challenge on Ryan Dow.

Rankin said: “I felt at half-time I wanted to get a message across to the players that I’m not happy with a 0-0.

“I’m not happy with a point, I wanted to try and get three. We put on two wide players, you could see what I was trying to do.

“Ultimately it didn’t work, they tried to come in the pitch rather than maintaining the width, and that’s the disappointing part.

“But I felt we had to try and throw the dice and try to get the three points, because I felt that was important.

“Let me stress, I’m absolutely delighted for Marley Redfern, who has been out for over a year.

“It was a time in the game when i felt we needed something a wee bit different, and I thought Marley could give us that.

“Getting him back on the pitch and refreshing things should help us in the run-in.”

Rankin says having a break until they welcome Ayr to New Douglas Park on March 18 is a good thing, with his side running on empty.

But he says nerves that he detected last night need to be extinguished as they bid to push their way up the Championship table from their current second-bottom slot.