Accies boss Reid says Livingston defeat was unacceptable

Nov 17 2011 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

SEETHING Hamilton boss Billy Reid blasted his side following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Livingston, saying the performance wasn’t good enough.

And the New Douglas Park gaffer said changes will be made ahead of their next league fixture against Raith Rovers on November 26.

Reid was outwardly calm following the Almondvale collapse, but didn’t miss and hit the wall with his post-match assessment.

He said: “We didn’t play well enough – you’ve got to battle and fight.

“Livingston were causing problems at our end, their midfield was running off our guys all day, and up front we were totally inept – you can’t win a football match with so many players doing that.

“We had a right go at half-time, lost the goal, and for the first time in the game we started competing, pinning them back, and looked as though we might have got the goal at that stage.

“We pressed for it but we still weren’t doing enough in the final third.”

Reid added: “Livingston isn’t an easy place to go to, they’re undefeated at home, and we knew that we weren’t going to go there and just run over the top of them.

“But the one thing you must demand of yourself as a player is a work ethic and we didn’t have that.

“We had six, seven, eight players not turning up. Young Gary Fraser came in last week and was outstanding, but on Saturday I wondered what happened – but he’s not the only one.

“Simon Mensing picked up a needless booking – once again he raised his hands and I don’t know how many times he’s done that, but it meant he couldn’t go in for any more tackles..

“We were bossed at the back, and in the middle of the park I thought the wee boy Bobby Barr ran amok among us, and up front we were soft. Matt Paterson and Greig Spence just didn’t do enough.

“We can’t fault Dougie Imrie’s work ethic and willingness at times, but we need a bit more off him as well.

“We moved Dougie back into the middle of the park because Grant Anderson played well, but even Grant didn’t do anywhere near enough. You can’t win a football match with so many players – I’m not going to say ‘under-performing’ – but what sticks in my gullet is that I don’t think we had a work ethic and a desire on Saturday and I can’t accept that.

“That’s not how I played, it’s not how I set my teams out. We had a lack of commitment and that’s something I’ve got to address.

“The one thing that myself and my chairman, Ronnie MacDonald, demand is that they put in a shift for Accies.

“There haven’t been too many times they haven’t done that, but Saturday was one of them. Changes have to be made.”

Reid said he’ll sit down with his players and show them exactly where they went wrong, and warned that they need to get a better level of consistency.

He said: “We’ve said quite a bit to the players and we’ll sit down and watch the full 90 minutes of the game.

“We spoke to the substitutes and a couple of the boys in the stand and they said the difference in appetite between the two teams was absolutely frightening, from the first ball to the last, and I can’t accept that.

“If players think they’re doing all right then they’ll be shown the DVD and told: ‘have a look at this’.

“There are guys out there who are better than that, but it doesn’t matter what you’re involved in – if you don’t apply yourself you deserve nothing.”