Billy Reid says critics writing Hamilton off will spur them on

Feb 17 2011 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON Accies boss Billy Reid rounded on his critics and said writing them off as SPL cannon fodder will only make them stronger.

Reid feels that his side’s chances of avoiding relegation from the SPL have been largely dismissed by the press, and says that will act as extra motivation for his players.

He said: “The press have kicked us a wee bit and are writing us off, which I’m really happy with.

“The players know exactly where we are and I thought we got a great response from them in the second half of Saturday’s game against Hearts.

“People writing us off isn’t going to make any difference to me, but if I was a player then I would look at it all, say ‘that’s great’ and use that as motivation, because that’s the type of person I am.

“I hope that can act as a wee spur to us.”

Reid reiterated his plea for fans to get behind the club and urged supporters to give twins Flavio and Marco Paixao a break as they try to haul Accies away from the drop-zone.

Marco’s introduction as a second-half substitute in Saturday’s 2-0 SPL defeat against Hearts was jeered by a small section of the home support at New Douglas Park, and that’s something that didn’t go unnoticed.

Reid said: “We’ve got a number of big games coming up, including the derby at Motherwell on Saturday, and we’re looking forward to them.

“But, at this stage in the season, we all need to pull together.

“The fans have been great with us, and really patient because they haven’t seen us win a league game at home all season, so they’re entitled to be frustrated.

“But the Paixao twins came on and really livened us up on Saturday and I just hope everybody gets behind them.

“They haven’t been as consistent or done as well as last season, but that goes for me as the manager and almost every other player as well.

“The twins will feature and if they can perform the way they did on Saturday then they will create for us.”

Reid was disappointed with Saturday’s 2-0 capitulation against Hearts, and admitted his first-half tactics didn’t work.

Hamilton now haven’t won a game since dumping Second Division Alloa out of the Scottish Cup fourth round on January 8, and need to go back to the 1-0 triumph over Motherwell at Fir Park on October 30 for their last league win, but the gaffer isn’t hitting the panic button yet.

He said: “We set the team out to frustrate Hearts because they didn’t have any physical presence up front, but we had to keep the ball and didn’t.”

Reid added: “You cannot win games at this level if you don’t defend your box, and we haven’t done that well enough this season.

“It’s not down to confidence, it’s down to people not doing their jobs properly, and we haven’t done enough.”

Hamilton were due to face Dundee United at Tannadice in a rearranged league fixture last night (Wednesday) before tackling derby rivals Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday.

Reid added: “The most important thing for me at the moment is to make sure we don’t concede. It’s a game at a time for us just now and we must start picking up points.”

Saturday’s derby match will be screened by BBC Alba as a delayed transmission from 5.30pm.