Hamilton Accies striker David Moyo admits his side weren’t ruthless enough as they lost 1-0 to Arbroath on Saturday to end their slim play-off hopes.
Accies needed to win all four of their remaining games to be in with a chance of pipping Partick Thistle to fourth place in the Championship, but Jack Hamilton’s 59th-minute strike ended that.
Hamilton dominated the first half, and could have been ahead at the interval, had they taken their chances.
Moyo glanced a Josh Mullin free kick from the left just past the far post and the big striker went on a run down the left, but his low shot was comfortably saved by Derek Gaston.
Good defensive play prevented a neat one-two between Moyo and Andy Ryan from reaching Andy Winter in the middle, with just Gaston to beat.
And Moyo was at it again, firing past the right post when sent through on goal.
Andy Winter headed a Kieran MacDonald corner past in 27 minutes, and Moyo headed over two minutes from the break.
Arbroath were a different side in the second half, and in 52 minutes Dale Hilson darted down the right and cut the ball back for Jack Hamilton, but he sent a low, angled shot past the left post when he should have scored.
But when the Hamilton defence failed to clear Colin Hamilton’s cross from the left, Jack Hamilton sent an unstoppable shot into the top left corner for the winner.
With games looming against Morton, Raith Rovers and Inverness to end the season, Moyo says Accies just have to get back to what put them on a run that saw them lose just twice in their last seven fixtures, and see where it takes them.
He said: “It was a tough one to take, because we wanted to win our last four games.
“We just weren’t ruthless enough, but we have to learn from it, keep going, keep creating those chances, and hopefully turn the screw.
“We’re professionals and there’s a lot of integrity in the dressing room, so we’ll try to finish as high as we can, and get as many points as we can from the last three games.
“We have to approach them in the right way, have a game-plan and stick to what we’ve been doing for the last however many games that we’ve done well, and finish the season strongly.
“It was disappointing for us to suffer that defeat, but we just have to keep going, finish the season strongly, and get as high as we can in that table.”
Accies travel to Cappielow next weekend to take on Dougie Imrie’s Morton, who they beat 1-0 last time out at New Douglas Park.
Moyo said: “We go to their patch, hopefully we can put them on the back-foot and win the game.”
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