Brian Rice saluted the spirit of his Hamilton battlers to keep going right until the death and grab a last-gasp equaliser against runaway league leaders Rangers.
And the Accies gaffer insists a point was the very least his troops deserved after Ross Callachan’s dramatic injury time strike earned them a draw after Brian Easton’s own goal 10 minutes from time.
Hamilton - the last side to beat Gers in the league almost a year ago but thumped 8-0 when they last met at Ibrox - produced a display that belied their position at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table.
And delighted Rice said: “From my point of view and my team’s point of view, a point is the least that we deserved for our bravery, the way we played and for the commitment the boys showed.
“It just shows you the spirit that we have got here and the belief that we have got that we didn’t let the heads go down. To go to the 94th minute against Rangers and get that equaliser says a lot for the lads. It was thoroughly deserved.
“You get that feeling sometimes that it isn’t going to be your day when you are at the sidelines but I had a belief in them. At half time I told them they were being so brave but that you don’t get anything for half-times.
“If we lost a goal, we had to go again. I don’t want us to ever, ever give up and I don’t want to see us feeling sorry for ourselves.
“I am shouting that, telling them to keep going and Ross Callachan, who missed a really good chance at 0-0, is in there. I said to him to keep getting in, keep getting in.
“It doesn’t matter when it is, something will fall for you and it happened. But I am proud of the boys. I thought it was a really top class performance.”
Accies are now three points behind Ross County with two games in hand over the Staggies and Rice said: “It is a point today and we are still bottom of the league.
“We have four away games coming up now and it is a tough schedule for us but the next game is the biggest game. This was the biggest game, now the next game is the biggest game.
“Don’t look too far ahead. You will get a pat on the back tonight from your mates, but tomorrow it is back to work and preparing for Wednesday.”
