John Rankin has warned his Hamilton Accies side to develop a nasty streak and start making life harder for other teams.
Rankin says it’s currently easier for opponents to get into Accies’ box than vice versa, and they need to score four times to win games.
The New Douglas Park boss says that has to change, starting with Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday.
He said: “The players seem vibrant, they’re confident that if we continue to play the same way then we’ll get out of the situation that we’re in – and I’m confident that will be the case.
“Since Andy Ryan has been back in the team I think there has only been one game where we’ve not scored a goal, so we’re an attacking threat, which was always going to be the case.
“But ultimately just now it seems that we need to score four to win a game, so we need to change that, and quickly.
“We need to eradicate those errors and be uglier and more horrible in our own half.
“We need to be nasty. At times I feel it’s easier to get in our box than what it is to get into the opposition’s box.
“It’s easier to get a shot away for them than it is for us.
“So we need to be that wee bit nastier, rather than being too nice in our own half.
“Getting that wee bit of ruthlessness in your own half makes you a better team, but we need to get that across.
“It’s not just the defenders that have to defend, it has to be from the front.
“If we can eradicate errors and continue to cause problems in the other half, it means we will climb the table, but it needs to be sooner rather than later.”
Rankin says Accies got plenty of plaudits for their performance in Friday night’s 3-2 defeat against Ayr, but ultimately it meant nothing.
He said: “We can talk about the performance and how we played well, passed the ball and how it looks good on the eye, but at the end of the day we’ve lost the game, which is disappointing.
“Their players and management were very complimentary after the game about how we played and how we deserved to get more out of the game – but we didn’t get anything out of the game.
“We have to continue to play in that manner, with those effort levels, and it will turn for us.
“We’re creating chances, we’re taking the ball in areas where you’d expect us to, and we’re making good forward movements.
“What’s letting us down is we’re not ruthless enough in our own box and we’re giving away chances where we’re getting punished.
“We are causing teams problems, but we’re probably causing ourselves problems as well.
“When you add that to the fact that we’re not ruthless enough in the other box, then we’ve got an issue.”
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.
