Hamilton Accies boss blasts defending as he admits Airdrie draw feels like a defeat

dailyrecord.co.uk:

John Rankin admits Hamilton Accies blowing a two-goal lead in the final minutes against Airdrie felt like a defeat - and blasted his side for their defending late on.Accies looked to be on course for back-to-back wins in the Championship after Oli Shaw's deadly double in the second half had the hosts 2-0 up going into the final 10 minutes.However, Airdrie substitute Aaron Reid sparked the comeback, netting a stunning header with his first touch - just seconds after climbing off the bench - before Murray Aiken's maiden goal for the club seven minutes later delivered a dramatic equaliser.Both goals came from Accies failing to stop deliveries into the box and Rankin was furious with his side's defending after performing well for much of the game.He said: "I'm really disappointed.

I thought we had the game wrapped up at 2-0. When you get yourself in that position with 10 minutes to go, you should never concede two goals, especially with the time that was left on the clock."Airdrie threw their big striker on through the middle and then we didn't stop crosses into the box.

That's the first thing that would take that threat away, but we don't stop the cross at source for either of the goals, which is really disappointing."It feels like a defeat having been in the position we were in."I thought Airdrie caused us some issues in the first half in regards to their shape. "In the second half I felt we sorted it and we got it bang on.

I've got to give the players credit for that because we tweaked it at half-time and I asked them to do certain things and they got it right."Hendo [Euan Henderson] was great for the first goal and it was a good finish from Oli.