Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin threatens to wield the axe after drab draw

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin admits he has been too loyal to players this season and warns he will wield the axe ahead of their League One trip to Montrose next weekend.Rankin was a frustrated figure after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with basement battlers Edinburgh City that saw them drop two points below Falkirk in second place.Kyle MacDonald opened the scoring in 35 minutes after Accies passed up several gilt-edged opportunities, but Ryan Shanley levelled in 52 minutes after being gifted a chance by calamitous defending.Accies now head for Montrose and a game that will be broadcast live by BBC Alba for one of their 5.30pm slots.Rankin said: “Everyone had an opportunity to play and keep themselves in the team, and now there will be changes to the team.“We were loyal to the ones that have been playing and got us on a good run, but now it’s an opportunity for others come in and stake a claim.“It’s a tough game, but one that should motivate the players.“It’s live on TV, it’s a chance for us to go there and get back on track.“Montrose are a good side, when we go there it’s going to be a tough game but we know what to expect.“Now there’s that wee bit added to it, because we’ve lost our 100 per cent home record, and now we need to go to a tough place and hopefully pick up three points.”Rankin says not being clinical enough in front of goal cost Accies at New Douglas Park, and says they will sort that out in training this week.He said: “Three or four players had really good chances and you’ve got to take them.“Right now we need to analyse what went wrong, how we can fix it, and be better.“When you look at the way we tried to be at the end, and get more bodies up the pitch, it still wasn’t fluid, we didn’t play to people’s