Hamilton focused on ending season with win rather than goals

Published 11th May 2018

Hamilton boss Martin Canning will make no mention of goal swings when he speaks to his players ahead of their final Ladbrokes Premiership game of the season at Motherwell on Saturday.

Accies are three points and 13 goals better off than Partick Thistle, who occupy the relegation play-off spot.

However, Canning insists that preparing to simply win the Lanarkshire derby will be the main message in his team talk.

He said: We will have a meeting and we will talk about the game but that (goal swings) won't be discussed.

It will be about us doing what we do every single week and try to approach the game in the right manner to go and win.

It is about doing our own job and trying to win the game, about us doing what we need to do and whatever happens elsewhere happens elsewhere.

For us it is about making sure we are fully focused on trying to take three points.

Obviously mathematically it is still not guaranteed but it would take a freak set of circumstances for anything but safety - which for us would obviously be great.''

Canning was a suspended Accies player in May 2014 when the Lanarkshire side went chasing goals on the last day of the season to give them the chance to beat Dundee to the Championship title.

However, despite a remarkable 10-2 home win over Morton, the Taysiders won their game against Dumbarton at Dens Park.

The former defender said: I was suspended for that last game after reaching my limit of bookings.

We knew we had to turn that round and we went for it right from the start and literally everything that could go right went right and it was an eight-goal swing for us.

But (on Saturday) it would take a freak set of circumstances.

We want to go and win the game. It is a derby and we would like to finish the season on a high.''

Motherwell have the William Hill Scottish Cup final against treble-chasing Celtic the following weekend but Canning does not believe it will have a bearing on their team selection or approach.

He said: I don't think so. I think they will want to be as prepared as they can be as well.

You don't want players not playing for maybe two weeks before a cup final but whatever they do they will do.

Regardless of who is playing for both teams, it will be a competitive game, it is a derby game and one both teams would like to win.''

Defender Scott McMann was also ultra-cautious in his assessment of Accies; survival prospects.

He said: Although it is unlikely, you still don't feel safe due to the mathematics.

We will go into the game tomorrow feeling that we need to win the game.

It seems there is a 99 per cent chance that we are safe but it is not mathematical so you can't think like that because football is a strange game.''