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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

Hamilton Accies boss rues more points dropped late on as survival now out of their hands

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin was left lamenting his side's failure to see out another result as they fell deeper into relegation trouble after a dramatic draw with Partick Thistle.

The New Douglas Park gaffer watched his side lose a 1-0 lead to Inverness late on in midweek as they ended up losing 2-1 and Accies were undone at the death once again as Thistle stung them with a stoppage time equaliser just two minutes after it looked like they'd won the game.

A Dan O'Reilly double after Brian Graham had given Partick a 28th minute lead looked to have sealed a vital victory in their survival bid, but Steven Lawless struck to snatch a point for the promotion hopefuls.

It now means Accies are joint-bottom of the Championship with Cove Rangers, having played a game more, and their destiny is out of their own hands as things stand ahead of their final day showdown at eighth-place Arbroath on May 5.

Accies will now hope Cove lose their game in hand when they play Dundee on Friday night to ensure the status quo going into the last fixture.

And after seeing his side slip deeper into danger, Rankin sighed: "On Tuesday night we had our opportunity and never took it as well so now we are relying on other teams, which isn't great.

"We need to hope Dundee can do us a favour and take it into the last day, going to Arbroath knowing what we need to do.

"We just had to see it over the line today and we couldn't do it.

"It's a sore one. I thought Partick were the better team to begin with. They caused us problems but then we score the goal and the players look like they've got a wee bit more energy and enthusiasm.

"It released the shackles and I thought the second half performance summed up the fighting spirit the players have among themselves.

"You could see how much it meant to them and how prepared they were to go the extra mile for each other.

"We get ourselves in front with two minutes to go and the disappointing thing is we concede very quickly after us scoring.

"You could say we switched off but I don't think it is a case of that, having seen the goal again. It's a case of too many maybe being desperate to go and head it clear.

"We've got players desperate to clear it and we can only compliment them on that, but at the same time we have to make sure we are in the right areas and it has cost us.

"It's disappointing, especially when we see other results today.

"Now we are relying on other teams doing us a favour with two games to go."

Had Accies held on to their late leads in their last two games, they would be sitting in eighth spot and two points clear of Arbroath.

But Rankin insists his players continue to give everything for the cause.

He added: "The fight and the spirit is there. They've never down tools.

"It's individual errors that are costing us.

"We've got four players in the dressing room putting their hand up for conceding a goal - which doesn't often happen - so we've got players who will take responsibility.

"But we know we need to go to Arbroath and make sure we make no mistakes."

One big miss for Accies was midfielder Lucas de Bolle and Rankin explained the on loan Newcastle United man was out through sickness, making him the third player suffering from a bug in the past couple of weeks after Reegan Mimnaugh and Reghan Tumilty.

He said: "Lucas called very early this morning to say he was up through the night being sick.

Midfielder Lucas De Bolle (SNS Group)

"He turned up at the game today and said he was able to play but his body language and energy through the place, he didn't look right.

"So rather than it spread through the club we thought it was best for him to go home.

"He'd only had a slice of toast and a Lucozade so we didn't think it was right for him to take part."

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.

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