Stuart Taylor says his Hamilton Accies side will be “bursting” to atone for last week’s heavy defeat to Arbroath, when they host managerless Ayr United on Saturday.
Ten-man Accies slumped to a 4-0 defeat at Gayfield and the game was already beyond them when Jamie Hamilton received his marching orders in the second half.
Taylor’s side are second bottom of the Championship as a result and level on four points with Ayr, who saw David Hopkin resign from his post last week.
Former Clyde boss Jim Duffy is now in interim charge and Taylor is confident his side will bounce back against the Honest Men.
The Accies boss, who masterminded a 2-1 win over Queen of the South on his debut, said: ”This week has been about picking the spirits back up again. There was an element of disappointment from the lads.
“It was one of those performances that people have and you want to get that out your system.
“The reaction has been good at training.
“There’s been a real work ethic to try and put things right.
“The lads are bursting for a game to get it out of their system.
“Speaking to a couple of them, there was a huge frustration about how the game went. They felt that there wasn’t much in the game, we hit the crossbar and then immediately we go and lose the goal.
“It’s my job to pick them up again and make sure we learn from it.”
On Duffy being at the reins of their opponents, he added that they will need to expect the Ayr players will be out to impress - but hopes that's still the case for his side, just a few weeks into his tenure.
He said: “It’s one of those things in football, there’s always a reaction to someone new going into a position or someone possibly going to be in that position.
“I hope we are still in that position ourselves where players are looking to react and impress and I’m sure that will be the case going into next year, and the year after, because the mentality we are trying to create here is that you always want to impress, improve and better yourself.
“The group we’ve got are very honest and hard working and I don’t see them changing in any way whatsoever.”
Taylor was impressed as he took in Ayr’s 3-0 win over Rangers B in round two of SPFL Trust Trophy last night.
And he has warned his side must be on their game to get a result and start climbing the Championship table again.
He added: “Ayr are a very experienced team.
“I went to watch them against Rangers and that’s exactly what they were: they were experienced and hard working.
“I don’t expect anything different on Saturday.
“It’s going to be another tough game.
“We need to make sure we are ready to go and do what we do well.”
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