John Rankin reckons a sombre moment in the Hamilton Accies camp this week has shown the unity within his squad.
The club attended a funeral on Tuesday after a family member of one of their staff passed away in December and he believes his players are showing a real togetherness on and off the pitch that can help galvanize the squad for the challenges ahead this season.
Accies have been struggling at the bottom of the Scottish Championship this season, but picked up their first win since October when they beat Morton 1-0 last Saturday - ending a run of seven straight defeats.
They now face their toughest test so far when they host Premiership side Ross County in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday but Rankin says his squad have shown they can be there for each other.
He said: "I won't go into too much detail but we had a club funeral this week and the players all went and showed their respects to a member of our playing staff's family, so I think that was important and showed the togetherness that we all have.
"It shows we are all behind each other and all in it together.
"I think that is important, no matter who it is, to see they are supported and how highly thought of they are at the club.
"And I saw on Saturday as well that there is a real togetherness there, a real drive and a real desire to win the game, albeit we were 1-0 up and you'd expect us to go and finish the game off.
"The story of our season is we haven't been taking our chances and our three victories this season have all been 1-0.
"Credit to our defence on Saturday. I thought they stood up well. Winning breeds confidence but clean sheets do as well."
Rankin says he has no fresh injury worries for Saturday's clash with County, although defender Michael Doyle has been struggling with flu-like symptoms and striker Andy Ryan will be wrapped in cotton-wool after his substitute appearance against Morton.
He added: "Chucky [Ryan] came on at the weekend and he has trained.
"We are hoping to get him through but we might have to be a wee bit cautious with him because of his back situation.
"Doyley has reported flu-like symptoms but he is a tough character so I imagine he will be alright.
"Everybody else seems fit. Nobody else is reporting anything."
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