Dan O’Reilly wants to introduce a fear factor at Hamilton Accies with teams dreading coming up against them, as they bid to play their way out of the Championship.
The Irish defender says Accies will put pressure on themselves to push up back to the Premiership, and getting points on the board early is important.
O’Reilly insists they go into Saturday’s curtain-raiser against Morton full of confidence from a strong pre-season, and want to show that.
But he wants visiting teams to come to New Douglas Park with trepidation.
The 27-year-old said: “We want to come out the traps well, set the tempo straight away. We want Morton to know they’re coming to our place, coming to Hamilton.
“We want to put a sense of fear about this place, where people are thinking ‘oh no, we’re going to Hamilton’ rather than them thinking they’re coming for an easy game.
“That comes from all of us, and everyone needs to be on top of their game.
“It’s vital to get off to a good start, especially with it being at home.
“I think you need to set the standard early, because the first league game is important.
“Being at home, we want to get three points, start off well, and that can then give us good confidence for the next few weeks.
“I don’t know if you would say we have a point to prove, but we do put a bit of pressure on ourselves.
“It’s our second year in the Championship, and we’re thinking we want to push up the table, get promoted, and that comes from us and the manager.
“We want to set out early and hopefully getting that win.”
O’Reilly joined Hamilton from Drogheda in January and reckons getting a pre-season with his team-mates has been massive.
He also says watching Andy Ryan, Andy Winter, Matty Shiels and Lewis Smith all netting recently gives everyone belief Accies will score goals.
He added: “Andy Ryan and Andy Winter have scored a good few goals, and that gives us confidence because goals have come from elsewhere as well.
“It’s really important for your strikers to score. It gives them that confidence going into the season.
“And for me, it’s important to get a pre-season in, being in the group. All of us are together, getting the right instructions tactically and physically.”
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.
