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Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

Beating Rangers again will be all about belief, says Hamilton Accies boss Brian Rice

Hamilton boss Brian Rice says his side should believe they can beat Rangers again because they've proved they can score in the big games before.

Rangers are yet to concede a goal this season, with Steven Gerrard's men top of the Scottish Premiership with four wins and a draw from their opening five games.

Accies picked up their first points of the campaign last week with a 1-0 win over Motherwell and face Rangers for the first time since a David Moyo winner stunned Ibrox in March.

To Rice it's just another game on Saturday night, but his players need to have the right mentality if they are to succeed once again.

He said: "Rangers have started the season very well defensively, but my job is to get us to try and score against them.

"We played them four times last year and we scored three times, so we've proven we can score in the big games and I just hope we can do it again on Saturday.

David Moyo celebrates with his teammates after making it 1-0 to Hamilton during the Ladbrokes Premiership match between Rangers (SNS Group)

"It doesn't make any difference [whether it's home or away], the players love to play on the big stages.

"There won't be any fans here again, but it's just another game.

"The Rangers and Celtic games are a mindset thing; phone calls from your mates, everybody wanting to talk to you about it - you don't get that every week.

"It's all about getting our mindset right and if we do that collectively, we give ourselves a chance.

"Belief is the most important thing.

"Belief that we can get something out of the game, trust in each other and trust in the game plan."

All the talk will be about Rangers impressive form going into the match, but Rice is focused on what his side can do.

He added: "I don't need to show them [the players] too much about Rangers and Celtic.

"Sportscene does that for me, I don't need to show them all that, they see it all and I concentrate on our good aspects of play against the Old Firm.

Rangers have been in fine form (REUTERS)

"The first game was Celtic away and I didn't see any fear. Okay, we got beat, but I didn't see any fear.

"And I haven't seen any in the four games we've played so far."

Accies started the season with a 5-1 humbling away to Celtic, followed by two narrow 1-0 defeats at home to Ross County and St Mirren.

But Rice hopes their derby win - and a first clean sheet - can be a turning point.

"I think we are improving. We are definitely getting better defensively," he said.

Hamilton players celebrate Odoffin's winner against Motherwell (Paul Devlin/SNS Group)

"We've got a couple of boys in there who like to defend, want to defend and enjoy defending.

"But, as a group, we are getting there.

"It will take time, but we need to get there a wee bit quicker."

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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