Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says April was gruelling but having no game last weekend was tough

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says having 13 days between games can help his side recover from a gruelling April, but not having a fixture last weekend was difficult.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s Scottish Cup semi-final clash with Falkirk meant their visit to Hamilton was brought forward to April 18, with the Highland side running out 2-1 winners.

That meant Accies were idle while rivals Cove Rangers drew 0-0 at Dundee on Friday and Arbroath lost 2-0 at Partick Thistle, and Paul Hartley’s side are now a point ahead, going into tonight’s showdown at Arbroath.

Hamilton also drew 2-2 at home to Partick Thistle on April 22, the seventh game in a bruising month that saw them take only five points from one win and two draws.

That draw at Thistle has been indicative of Accies’ season where late goals have turned wins into draws, or a point into none.

Rankin said: “Being in the winning position against Partick would have made it easier, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“It’s frustrating now when you look at it in that aspect. If you convert those points that we had, whether it be giving us another one or two, then we would obviously be in a different position, but we can’t dwell on that.

“I wouldn’t say having the gap [between the Thistle and Arbroath games] has helped, but we need to look at fatigue levels throughout the amount of games we played in April.

“But missing the game at the weekend was not ideal, not at this stage of the season, because you want to be playing every week.

“Obviously it gave other teams round about us a chance to pick up points.

“It might have been helpful to get a wee bit of freshness into the players, but it certainly wasn’t helpful, in regards to not preparing for a game.”

Rankin says having