Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says supporters were right to boo his side off at half-time in last night’s 3-1 defeat to Falkirk because his players downed tools.
Rankin’s side were 3-0 down at the break after a nightmare start at New Douglas Park against the Championship leaders saw a Barry Maguire own goal fly into the net inside five minutes, before a Calvin Miller strike and a Brad Spencer penalty in 34 minutes gave them an insurmountable task against a side they last defeated in the league in 2015.
The Accies faithful showed their disgust as the players trudged off at the break and although Euan Henderson pulled one back two minutes into the second half, it was too little too late.
And Rankin insisted it was a ‘lack of willingness to run’ from his players that let them down, in what was their fifth defeat in 10 games.
He told the club media: “We are obviously frustrated and disappointed. Obviously the first half wasn’t good enough and I am prepared to admit that. It was there for all to see.
“In the first half we were really poor, we weren’t at it and that is disappointing. We had a gameplan and it obviously didn’t work. We didn’t lay a glove on them.
“The supporters booed us off at half-time – and quite rightly so. That’s not good enough. It is nowhere near what we expect and the demands we put on the players.
“We are 3-0 down and in the second half it is easy to give a reaction to that, which we did, but it shouldn’t take us 45 minutes to get going.
“We made changes to the starting line-up and maybe I got the personnel wrong. But I don’t think the first half performance was anything to do with tactics or shape, it was more to do with a willingness to run.
“I look at us in the second half and when Scott Martin wins the ball early in the half, straight away we’ve got Connor Smith, Euan Henderson, Kevin O’Hara, Ben Williamson all running beyond Oli Shaw – and that’s what we were looking for in the first half.
“When I look at us in the first half, the ball was ending up back at Dean [Lyness, the goalkeeper] and that’s not being brave, that’s being slow and negative and we don’t want that.
“I felt we had a couple chances in the second half but at 3-0 we gave ourselves too much to do.
“What was said at half-time is probably better staying in the changing room. The players were taking hits at one another at full-time, which is right. They were saying it is easy to go and play when you are 3-0 down.”
Accies were boosted before the game by the return of skipper Scott Martin from injury, but he echoed his gaffer’s sentiments as Accies must now look to a home clash with Morton next Saturday.
Martin said: “First half we were nowhere near it as a team, as individuals. We were off it and Falkirk punished us.
“We can’t go into half-time 3-0 down in games. The game is done. The changes at half-time helped, the players who came on did well, but we are disappointed.
“We still showed desire in the second half and gave it a go, but it wasn’t enough. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with the first 45 minutes.”
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