Martin Canning says he won’t be rushed into panic signings, insisting that he won’t hold back his youngsters unless he can significantly improve his team.

The Hamilton manager is still on the look-out for a defender, and had former Arsenal man Justin Hoyte and former Oldham man Connor Brown on trial at the club.

He decided though that he would rather maintain trust in the products of the club's youth system rather than sign someone just to bolster his squad.

“We’re still looking for a full-back if we can get one,” Canning said.

“I’ve got good young players there who I wouldn’t hold back just to bring someone in for a season or to cover us. We don’t need cover, we need someone to come in and play if we can get them.

“Justin Hoyte was in training but we didn’t think he was the right guy for us.

“He was a lovely guy and a good professional, but for me to bring someone in it’s got to be somebody I believe can add value to the team, not just the squad.

“They have to be able to come in and play in our first-team, and I didn’t think that was the case.

“Over the course of the last six weeks I’ve probably had three that I thought were pretty much done, and they’ve fallen through for one reason or another.

“It leaves you in a wee spot where you are looking to see what is still about.

“Connor Brown was in too for a couple of days, but he’s away now as well.

“They were both good players and both good guys, but I’ve got young Darren Lyon there that I wouldn’t hold back when I don’t feel they could do any better than young Darren can do.”

Canning says that his players required a little lift after the disappointment of last weekend’s Lanarkshire derby defeat.

At the same time though, both he and the squad took heart from the way they recovered from a nightmare start to make Motherwell work for their victory.

“How we only scored two goals in the last hour I don’t know, we created so many chances,” he said.

“If you lose a derby game in any manner, whether it’s a 4-2 or a 1-0, you want a positive reaction and hopefully we get that this weekend.

“We definitely need to be out of the traps quicker and it’s something we generally do, start on the front foot and put pressure on teams right away.

“For whatever reason on Saturday Motherwell got on top pretty quickly and we sat too deep off the game.

“We probably had 24 attempts on target and scored two last week, and they’ve had four and scored four, sometimes that can happen in football.

“When you give yourself a mountain to climb in football then it’s never easy, but the pleasing thing for me was the way we fought to get ourselves back in the game.”

Dan Seaborne and Alex D’Acol will be back in the squad for St Johnstone’s visit to the Superseal Stadium on Sunday, and Canning is grateful to be near full strength against a side he admires greatly.

He knows that Accies will have to be at their best to take anything from Tommy Wright’s in-form outfit.

“I really admire Tommy Wright,” he said. “He seems to bring in a certain type of experienced player who knows their job and know what they are doing.

“Usually it’s someone who is reliable and consistent, and they all go and perform week-in, week –out which is key.

“If you’re going to get a consistent level of performance then you’re going to pick up wins, and I think that’s what they get at St Johnstone."