Hamilton feel the pain of home loss to Dundee

Hamilton boss Martin Canning said his side lost the battle against Dundee and need to look at why they have issues with their consistency.

A terrific win against Aberdeen on Tuesday was followed by a drab performance and a 1-0 defeat.

A shot from Paul McGowan was deflected into the net in the 61st minute, giving Dundee a first victory since August 6 at Ross County.

Canning said: I thought the performance levels weren't what they were through the week, and the two line-ups - 3-5-2 - meant it was always going to be a match-up, so we had to win the battle and don't think we did that.

Did we do enough to win the game? Definitely not. Did we do enough to lose the game, probably not, but we have, and it's disappointing.

From what we have in the dressing room we want to go and win games, particularly ones like that. We didn't and it's something we have to look at - there's no point getting yourselves up for big games like Aberdeen, Celtic or Rangers coming here, and letting the Dee come here and leave with three points.

You have to churn out performances, set your own level of consistency and get to the level you want to get to. Ultimately that's what moves you on from here; if you can get that level of consistency into your game you can move here and play at a higher level.

That result gives us a little kick, brings us back down to earth again, and lets you know there is a lot of hard work to be done and you need to keep working hard.''

Dundee manger Paul Hartley said his side deserved their win but warned it will count for nothing if they lack fight in their coming games.

Hartley said: That's the minimum we expect from them now, the players know that, they're a great bunch of players to work with - they're honest, and just haven't had the results.

That was a different Dundee and we're going to be looking for that between now and the end of the season. We have to fight for every result. We might not always win, but as long as I see on the pitch what I saw there I'll be happy.

I'm delighted for the players - we deserved that, we fought, we stuck together and I'm pleased for the group.

We had a good week, in terms of speaking, and some good stuff on the training pitch. We were all honest with each other, said we're going to fix it together, and we're going to fight every week, and every day in training - I don't mean punches, but to fight together and show a real desire and attitude.

That was a different Dundee team, a team that wanted it, the attitude was great, and all over the pitch, in every department, we deserved that.''