Hamilton chief backs manager Martin Canning after Celtic loss

Hamilton Academical chairman Les Gray has called on the club's supporters to rally behind manager Martin Canning as the club experiences a challenging run of results.

Martin Canning: Backed. Picture: SNS

Tuesday’s crushing 8-1 defeat by Celtic leaves Accies level with Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle in joint second bottom position in the Scottish Premiership. They have not won since November, a run of eight games which included a Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of League 2 side Annan.

While acknowledging the poor form, Gray has backed Canning and his players to turn things around.

“Obviously recent results have been very disappointing but we have been here before in previous seasons and we believe that our players and management team will come through this difficult period with our support,” Gray said in a statement.

“We will continue our policy of developing our own young players which has proven to be very successful and we will continue to search for the players that can augment what we do within our budget, which can prove very difficult.

“We have had positive results against the vast majority of Premiership teams this season and it was only around six weeks ago that we were sitting fifth in the table.

“We would ask that our fans get behind the manager and the players during this difficult run. Together we all hurt when things are not going as we would wish, but fans, community, players, staff, management and directors in alignment are what makes our club what it is.

“Together we can make the difference, divided we’ll fail.”