Flamboyant former Motherwell chairman John Boyle once opined that in Scottish football, as in life, one day you’re a peacock and the next you’re a feather duster.
It’s an idiom that could easily be applied to the current fortunes of his old club’s arch-rivals from across the River Clyde, as Hamilton continued their calamitous run of form at the weekend with the humiliating thrashing at the hands of Annan.
As recently as November, Hamilton were flying high in joint-third position in the Premiership table, and the naysayers from the media who had almost universally tipped Martin Canning’s men for relegation were eating humble pie in quantities once reserved for their consumption of the Scotch variety laid on in the media room at half-time.
Goalkeeper Michael McGovern was riding the crest of this wave, with his impressive form for his club the foundation for securing Northern Ireland's number one jersey in their successful qualification bid for Euro 2016.
Fast-forward to January, and suddenly everything in McGovern’s garden appears a little less rosy, although his manager’s complexion is certainly verging on the rubicund at his side’s sudden propensity for gifting goals to the opposition.
An astonishing nineteen of them have flown by McGovern in in his last six games – four of them in the defeat to Annan alone - a statistic in stark contrast to the twenty-four conceded in the first seventeen games of the season to that point.
Whilst not yet worried that the rapid accumulation in Hamilton’s goals against column will hamper his European Championship dream, McGovern admits he is concerned by the soft centre that Hamilton have developed.
“It’s been a difficult week,” he conceded.
“That’s obvious when you have been beaten by a lower league team and conceded four goals.
“It was as poor defensively as we have been since I’ve been here. We made a lot of errors and contributed to our own downfall.
“We need to be a bit more ruthless defensively. We are allowing the opposition too many opportunities and we need to shore up. It is something we have been working hard on in training to try and rectify that side of our game.
“Defensively, we are conceding too many opportunities and goals. We need to start conceding fewer, that's it. If we can do that, then I’m confident we’ll get goals at the other end. That is our main focus just now. We have scored six goals in our last two league matches. So if we can shore up at the back there is no reason why we cannot get results, because the goals are coming at the opposite end.
“I don’t think attitude was a problem. As I said, defensively we were as poor as I have seen us. Probably all four goals were down to individual errors, but that’s football. Fair play to Annan. They deserve a lot of credit for the way they played. We have to take it on the chin and make sure we react positively on Saturday.
“The result was really poor and we don’t have any comebacks.”
Exasperated manager Martin Canning certainly wasn’t slow to let his players know what he thought about their efforts at Annan, and he has hinted that he may be tempted to put himself back into the side for the match against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park this weekend in a desperate attempt to steady his listing ship.
“The manager was very, very angry after the game and on Monday as well,” McGovern said.
“He laid down the law. I’ve seen the manager angry a few times but that is probably the angriest I have seen him. And rightly so. The result wasn’t acceptable.
“From our point of view as a Premiership team, it shouldn’t be happening. So the manager was justified in venting his anger.
“No-one is under any illusions about how bad a defeat that was and how important it is to react in positive way on Saturday. That is our whole focus. There is nothing we can do about last weekend now. We can only focus on St Johnstone.
“It will be the manager’s decision as to whether he comes into the team. But I enjoy playing behind the manager. I think he is the best defender at the club in terms of putting his body on the line and being a proper defender.
“He is a very valuable member of the squad as well as being the manager. So if he plays, we’ll have every confidence in him. But that is a decision he has to make himself.”
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