Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin: We must be better at holding onto leads

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says he needs to see more determination to defend a lead in games, after drawing 2-2 at Ayr United yesterday.

Dipo Akinyemi got Ayr off to a flier in three minutes, but Andy Winter levelled for Accies in 14 minutes, before Dan O’Reilly headed in Reegan Mimnaugh’s corner to give them the lead in 73 minutes.

However, 12 minutes later Andy Murdoch levelled for the Honest Men with a rocket shot to leave Accies with only a point.

That’s a similar tale to Hamilton’s last visit to Ayr on April 1, when a Kerr McInroy thunderbolt rescued a point after Winter had given Accies the lead.

Rankin was disappointed with that, and says it needs to change.

He said: “The same thing happens again, which is disappointing, because I think the majority of the boys on the pitch would have played in that game as well, take away Jean-Pierre Tiehi.

“That’s bitterly disappointing that we concede a goal in the same manner.

“Could we have defended the cross better, could we have defended the throw-in better? Possibly, I need to look at that on the video.

“But again, it’s a case of we scored two goals away from home and we took one point, but it feels like nothing, in the manner in which it happened.

“There needs to be a determination and there is, I can see it among the players and the voices in the dressing room at the end.

“But we need to see that on the pitch when we go a goal up to make sure we get the three points, rather than a point.”

Rankin was also unhappy with a decision by referee Gavin Duncan to award Ayr a 41st-minute penalty when it looked like Michael Doyle had made a clean tackle on Daire O’Connor.

Ryan Fulton saved Akinyemi’s penalty, but that could have changed the course of the game.

Rankin said: