Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says playing at venues like Hampden is one of the reasons the club were determined to get back to the Championship and reckons his players will relish their first trip to the national stadium in almost two years.
Accies – who have lost their last four meetings with the Spiders – head to Hampden having picked up four points from their last two games and could climb above fourth-place Spiders with a rare win over their rivals.
Rankin’s side look to be finding a bit of form and he says today is the kind of occasion they can thrive in.
He said: “The players will be looking forward to it because it is at Hampden. This is why we wanted to be in this league, to play in stadiums like that.
“No disrespect to the clubs in League One but we wanted to be going to stadiums like this on a Saturday afternoon and enjoying our football.
“Now the players have the chance to do that, they are looking forward to it and I imagine the surface will be really good with the international games next week.
“We’ve started getting results as well. I said after the Raith Rovers game a couple of weeks ago [a 3-3 draw] how important it was to get us going. The spirit and drive we showed in that game to come back is standing us in good stead and having that spirit will push us on.
“Last Saturday, I felt we showed another side to us to beat Partick [1-0]. I felt we built on the previous week and kept a clean sheet. Hopefully this is the start of us going on a wee run and we can pick up another three points.”
Rankin’s preparations have been hit by the blow of two major injury set-backs, however, with defender Cian Newbury ruled out for the rest of the season after doing his ACL and midfielder Kyle MacDonald sidelined for three months with a broken metatarsal.
He added: “It’s not great. It is a big blow losing the two of them for long periods.
“But [defender] Dylan McGowan is back training so that has given everybody a boost, having his presence and leadership qualities back on the training pitch.
“[Goalkeeper] Charlie Albinson took a knock on his leg against Livingston that has kept him out for a couple of weeks, but he has been able to join training again so we are getting some players back, at least.”
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