Hamilton Accies boss apologises to fans after Thistle rout

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin has apologised to supporters after his side were swept aside 5-1 by rampant Partick Thistle at Firhill.

A first-half double by Scott Robinson had Jags on easy street, before Kevin O'Hara accepted a gift from Thistle keeper Myles Roberts to cut it back to 2-1 before half-time.

But a Brian Graham double either side of a Logan Chalmers strike saw Thistle rack up the emphatic score-line.

Rankin revealed that captain Scott Martin became a father again on Friday, and played despite not having slept.

And he said an injury to Connor Smith that saw him limp off in the closing stages is causing concern.

Rankin hopes his side can turn things around when they host Raith Rovers next Saturday, and that supporters continue to back them.

He said: "Being at home brings the supporters out, and hopefully they can get behind us.

"I want to apologise to them today, I don't think that was anywhere near what they're expecting. They pay good money to come and hopefully they can encourage us and we can get something from the game.

"It's frustrating and annoying. You can't start both halves the way we did and expect to get anything out of the game.

"I think it's the way we concede, more than anything, that lets the players heads go down, but it's obviously an error and we have to respond better to that.

"To go 2-0 down, it gives us an uphill task. and we have to make sure it doesn't go to three or four before half-time.

"I felt we did that, got our goal right on half-time which changed the mood in the dressing room, but we didn't capitalise on that in the second half."

Rankin added: "The message at half-time was the game was there for us, it's 2-1, can we turn the crowd against them, can we start in their half,