Hamilton Accies boss Stuart Taylor says 'safety' this season was never on his radar

Hamilton Accies boss Stuart Taylor insists he doesn't see it as 'pressure off' now that his side are realistically safe from being pulled into the Championship relegation battle, because he's always looking up the table.

Taylor says the positive nature that he's trying to foster at New Douglas Park means they're always looking at who they can beat, catch or leap-frog in the table, rather than who can get closer to them.

And he says needing to win all the rest of their fixtures to have a chance of grabbing a play-off slot isn't 'pressure' because that has always been the aim.

Ahead of Saturday's Championship clash at home to Arbroath, Taylor said: "We’ve always been looking up, seeing who we can catch, who we can take over, see how many points we can claw back on certain teams. We've always been that way.

“I guess that’s the mentality of being positive. It's that mentality of having a togetherness in the dressing room at the football club, of going and looking to be positive and win games, and create as many points as we possibly can and go on a run which would get us a bit of success at the end of the season.

Accies host Arbroath on Saturday as they near the end of their Championship campaign (SNS Group)

“[Safety] has not been in my way of thinking. I’ve just been looking up the way, seeing what the next game we have is. Is it a team that we can leap-frog, claw points back on, or go and dominate the game and pick up another three points.”

Hamilton follow up Saturday's clash at home to Arbroath with trips to Morton and Inverness, either side of a visit by Raith Rovers on April 23.

In order to grab a chance of a step-up back to the Premiership, Accies realistically need full points.

But Taylor said: "That’s not pressure. Since I've come in we've spoken about whether we can win every game we go into.

Taylor says Accies are always looking at who they can beat and which teams they can catch in the table (SNS Group)

“I know it hasn’t been the case, but having that mentality, changing the culture, is what I spoke about at the start.

"We're now in a different situation where we’re going into games believing we can win, whether it be home or away.

"We believe we can dominate spells in the game, and create chances.

"It’s just a case of making sure we continue to be ruthless and be relentless about how we go about our play."

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