Hamilton Accies boss feels 'change in the atmosphere' at club as he provides squad update for Arbroath clash

John Rankin says he feels a change in the atmosphere around New Douglas Park this week after Hamilton Accies picked up their first win since August.

And he reckons the return of some players from injury is pushing others in the squad to lift their game.

Tuesday night's 1-0 win at Inverness ended a run of four straight defeats for Accies and lifted them off the foot of the Championship table ahead of Saturday's clash away to rock bottom Arbroath.

Rankin has noticed a tangible shift among his squad over the past week as performamnces have improved and the likes of Andy Ryan and Miko Virtanen have come back into the fold.

And he said: "I can feel the atmosphere changing. I can hear the noises in the training ground, I can hear demands being put on each other and when you hear players doing that it is much more satisfying than the manager or Darian [MacKinnon, his assistant].

"Once the players demand off of each other that is the standards we are looking to set.

"The injured ones coming back makes a difference.

"I now see big JP [John-Pierre Tiehi] with the bit between his teeth. Before that he was only competing with himself for the jersey, but over the last two games I've seen him respond and respond to having to come off early against Morton [the 5-0 defeat].

"That's the reaction I'm looking for from the players. I'm looking for hunger and he's certainly not sulking with the way he has come on and performed in the previous couple of games.

"But, listen, we've won one game and we are still in ninth position so the standards still need to be raised further.

"The players are fully aware of that and I'm sure they will do that in the coming weeks."

Meanwhile, on the injury front fans are still no closer to seeing the likes of