Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin has apologised to supporters after his side were swept aside 5-1 by rampant Partick Thistle at Firhill.
A first-half double by Scott Robinson had Jags on easy street, before Kevin O’Hara accepted a gift from Thistle keeper Myles Roberts to cut it back to 2-1 before half-time.
But a Brian Graham double either side of a Logan Chalmers strike saw Thistle rack up the emphatic score-line.
Rankin revealed that captain Scott Martin became a father again on Friday, and played despite not having slept.
And he said an injury to Connor Smith that saw him limp off in the closing stages is causing concern.
Rankin hopes his side can turn things around when they host Raith Rovers next Saturday, and that supporters continue to back them.
He said: “Being at home brings the supporters out, and hopefully they can get behind us.
“I want to apologise to them today, I don’t think that was anywhere near what they’re expecting. They pay good money to come and hopefully they can encourage us and we can get something from the game.
“It’s frustrating and annoying. You can’t start both halves the way we did and expect to get anything out of the game.
“I think it’s the way we concede, more than anything, that lets the players heads go down, but it’s obviously an error and we have to respond better to that.
“To go 2-0 down, it gives us an uphill task. and we have to make sure it doesn’t go to three or four before half-time.
“I felt we did that, got our goal right on half-time which changed the mood in the dressing room, but we didn’t capitalise on that in the second half.”
Rankin added: “The message at half-time was the game was there for us, it’s 2-1, can we turn the crowd against them, can we start in their half, but we never got out our own half before they scored their third.
“It doesn’t matter about the quality you have at the top end of the park, if you concede five in a game it’s going to be a hell of a day.
“It’s a case of making sure we go back in with our positive heads on to get a result next week against Raith Rovers.
“We’ve responded to defeats in the past, and it’s a case of getting that consistency. We’re winning two, losing three, winning three, losing two… it has been an up and down season so far and we need to get that consistency levels correct.”
Rankin revealed that captain Scott Martin became a dad on Friday morning and played, though he hadn’t slept and his family were still in hospital.
He said: “I’m looking at the squad today and we looked as if we were passive, as if we never had much aggression, and I’ve got to hold my hands up.
“Scotty had a wee girl yesterday morning, hasn’t had any sleep or trained yesterday and we asked him to play today. His wee girl and wife are still in hospital just now.
“That’s the lengths that players are prepared to go to, it’s making sure that not just one or two, but that they’re all prepared to run through the mill for one another.”
On Connor Smith”s injury, Rankin said: “It’s both his groin and his knee, so that’s worrying, but we’ll get him assessed and take it from there. Hopefully it’s not as bad as first feared.”
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