Hamilton Accies boss saw encouraging signs in cup win over Clyde, but improvement needed

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin says there were encouraging signs as his side came from behind to beat Clyde 3-1 in their Viaplay Cup opener.Accies were in the unusual position of being visitors in their own New Douglas Park stadium, and ground-sharing Clyde took the lead through Liam Scullion in 16 minutes.But Andy Winter levelled in 64 minutes, with Joe McGlynn giving Accies the lead two minutes from the end on his debut, and Scott Martin adding a third in stoppage time.Rankin said: “We got ourselves into a situation we didn’t want to be in, but I’m delighted with the outcome in the end.“Obviously it is still pre-season, and we’re trying to get the players up to speed.

It’s competitive football, but it is still early and you’re trying to build a squad.“I was pleased with the way they went about it, especially after going 1-0 down – it wasn’t just a case of go and do our own thing and become a bunch of individuals.“It’s a really new team, we’re still trying to bed in our ideas, and them bed in with one another and get relationships going, but I was pleased with the way they stuck to what we’re trying to do.“We got our just rewards with the three points in the end.”Winter levelled two minutes after climbing off the bench, while McGlynn scored seven minutes after his own introduction.Debuts were handed to Jackson Longridge, Lee Kilday, Stephen Hendrie, Jamie Barjonas, Dylan Tait and Kevin O’Hara, while Kyle MacDonald and Connor Murray also debuted from the bench.Rankin said: “We have a lot of players at the top end of the pitch who are competing for places, and goals are what they all want to do.“I was delighted for Andy – he got into a really good position to get his goal, we’ve been working on that with him.“Andy is a