Hamilton Accies boss bemoans 'lack of energy' from side as subs get brunt of criticism after unbeaten run ends

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says his side lacked the energy and enthusiasm that had made them the form team in the Championship until leaders Queen's Park ended their five-game unbeaten streak.

Connor Shields bagged a brace after Jack Thomson and Aaron Healy had already fired past Accies, who grabbed a consolation through substitute Dario Zanatta in the 4-1 defeat.

And Rankin reckoned the drive and determination that had got them off the bottom of the Championship with victory over Inverness in midweek was sorely lacking as they were brushed aside on their home patch.

The gap at the bottom from Arbroath has been cut to just a point ahead of the sides meet at New Douglas Park on Friday night and Rankin sighed: "I'm disappointed with the result but I am disappointed more so with the overall performance.

"We lacked energy, we lacked enthusiasm at times, we looked leggy, which I'm disappointed in.

"It was a hard week being asked to go Tuesday-Saturday with the amount of energy we put into both games but I still felt we could have had more in the tank that that today.

"I thought in the first half we didn't look like we had any attacking belief or willingness to get forward, which is disappointing.

"We defended reasonably well in the first half and then the goal comes from us letting them inside, letting them into the danger area, which we had been working really hard on stopping them from doing that of late.

"In the second half I thought we could have attacked and caused problems with the system we were in at that time, but the second goal kills the game.

"At that point the heads went down but we came back to 3-1 and at that point JP has a really good chance, and if he scores that it would have been game on.

"So I'm