If Martin Canning was feeling the strain ahead of Hamilton’s crucial match with Dundee United, he was hiding it well as he previewed the match yesterday.

Just a couple of weeks after coming under intense pressure on the back of a terrible run of form, a win over Kilmarnock and a free weekend has resulted in the heat dying down a little on the rookie boss.

While he admitted that there is no getting away from the importance of Saturday’s game against Mixu Paatelainen’s side, he played down its ‘six-pointer’ status, and made it clear that he is viewing it as just the latest step on his side's road to recovery.

He said: “We aren’t looking at league positions and thinking where we will be if we lose or where we will be if we win at the moment, it’s just a case of looking at the game individually where there’s three points up for grabs, and it’s up to us to go and earn them.

“When you look at Dundee United, they’ve probably not got the results that their performances have always deserved.

“As I’ve been saying all season, there’s very little between all the sides in the league. They obviously went through a bad run, but there will be very little in it and we know it will be a difficult game.

“It’s up to us to go and try to win it, we’ve managed that twice already this season against them and we need to make sure we do it again.

“Every team has gone through wee spells when they’ve been doing well and wee spells when they’ve struggled, and hopefully we can go on a good run now.

“The last couple of results have been positive, and although it’s a cliché, we really are treating every game like a cup final now.

“The games that are just past will have no impact on the game ahead of us, we need to be fully focused and clear our mind for this match."