Hamilton Accies boss reveals Darian MacKinnon has apologised for red card

Darian MacKinnon has apologised for his "silly'' sending off against Motherwell which sees him miss Saturday's crunch game against Ross County, boss Martin Canning has revealed.

Published 7th Apr 2017

Darian MacKinnon has apologised for his "silly'' sending off against Motherwell which sees him miss Saturday's crunch game against Ross County, boss Martin Canning has revealed.

The 31-year-old midfielder received a red card for making a gesture towards a section of the home support on Wednesday night, which left Accies with 10 men for the last 16 minutes of the goalless draw at Fir Park.

Canning, whose side are three points above bottom club Inverness, said: "Darian has apologised and knows he was silly to do something like that.

"He is an experienced guy. Darian knows he has let the boys down, he has let himself down and I wouldn't expect that to ever happen again.

"The biggest blow is that you lose him for an important game but he feels that the way we are all feeling that.

"He has been silly and we will deal with it and move on.

"Guys like Darian play on the edge so it doesn't take much to push him over it, and one thing he has done really well, particularly in the last 12 months, is that he has controlled that a lot better.

"It was a lapse, a judgement error, which has cost him and cost us and he knows that.''

With two games remaining before the split, only five points separate the bottom five teams.

Canning is anticipating the fight for survival to go all the way to the end of the season.

He said: "Our games are against the teams around us. Every game becomes bigger than the game previous.

"I can't see how any team can take themselves out of it, unless you can win three, four, or five in a row.

"I would imagine it will go right to the wire.

"It is one win and a draw against Ross County this season and we need to try to beat them again.''