Accies James McArthur says next four games are most important

Oct 29 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

JAMES McARTHUR has described Hamilton’s next four fixtures as the games of their lives.

Accies go up against St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday, followed by a home derby clash with Motherwell and trips to Falkirk and St Johnstone.

And the midfielder knows just how important the next four games will be to Accies’ season.

“Those are massive games for us,’ said McArthur. “We’re not going to get judged on our performances against the Old Firm but we want to do really well in these type of games.

“We need to take points from them, and these are the biggest games of our lives.”

Disappointment was etched on McArthur’s face as he recalled how he was denied an equaliser against Celtic on Sunday by the heroics of keeper Lukasz Zaluska.

He said: “Being through one-on-one, it’s a big chance, especially at 2-1, and I’m really disappointed that I haven’t finished it off.

“People have said I should have chipped it or taken a touch, but I went through, tried to hit it hard and low, and I did that. I suppose it was a good save, but you expect to score these chances.”

McArthur reckons Hamilton are getting back to being the side that won plaudits last season and is confident of beating the drop.

He said: “In the last few games, there has been a real improvement but we need to keep working as hard as we do.

“I think we lost that a wee bit, working hard and getting in people’s faces because, without being disrespectful, a lot of teams have got better players than us.

“We just need to make sure we’re getting stuck in and preventing quality players from getting on the ball.”

James added: “Our performance against Celtic will give us a lot of confidence but we need to learn from the mistakes we made.

“I wouldn’t say their two goals were sclaffs, but they weren’t hit well, while maybe I hit mine too well and didn’t get that luck.

“But I felt that we tried to get the ball down and it’s much more encouraging to do that, rather than booting it up in the air.

“Games against the Old Firm games are special but we need to keep the same fight and spirit when we face teams like Falkirk and St Mirren, sides that are maybe going to be around us.”