John Rankin insists Hamilton's confidence hasn't wavered after recent results and insists they can beat the drop from the Scottish Championship ahead of a crunch clash with Inverness tonight.
The New Douglas Park gaffer took pelters from the Hamilton support as they went down 1-0 to title-chasing Queen's Park last Friday, leaving them just two points above bottom sode Cove Rangers and four adrift of eighth-place Arbroath with three games remaining.
Defeat to the Caley Jags - who Accies have beaten in all four of their previous meetings this season - would leave the side in a perilous position with Cove having a game in hand.
And while he accepts the fans are frustrated with recent results, which have seen Accies pick up one win in their last eight and suffer five defeats, Rankin is convinced they can pull off a great escape.
He said: "I fully believe we can get out of this, that confidence hasn’t wavered and the players believe that as well.
“The fans will have a go at me and that’s fine, as long as the players don’t turn on one another and right now they are fully behind one another. We need to maintain that spirit and try to get the three points.
"The fans have every right to vent their frustration, I’m as angry as them.
“The club is their passion and my passion is my job and trying to help the players.
“For the bulk of Friday night the fans were in full voice and behind the players. They spoke about the encouragement they were given.
“When you go a goal behind that can change. That can happen in football but the backing they gave for 75 minutes was absolutely brilliant and the players responded to that.
“We need that backing from the fans.
"It’s important we go and try to get maximum points from the game.”
After hosting Inverness, Accies host Partick Thistle on Saturday and then face an axious wait to see how the situation develops, with the club sidelined on the weekend of April 29.
They had been due to face Inverness on that date, but the fixture has been brought forward to tonight due to the Jags' Scottish Cup semi-final with Falkirk next weekend.
A potentially defining clash away to Arbroath is Hamilton's final fixture of the league campaign on Friday, May 5.
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