LEE Hodson has urged his Hamilton Accies team mates to use being written off as motivation – and prove their doubters wrong by securing their Premiership place on merit this season.
Brian Rice’s side, beaten 3-0 at the FoY Stadium by Celtic on Boxing Day, are now just a point ahead of bottom-placed Ross County in the league table with a game in hand.
The 3-0 win the Lanarkshire club were awarded by the SPFL earlier this month when St Mirren were found to have breached Covd-19 protocols has been stood down.
St Mirren and Kilmarnock have both appealed against the rulings and an SFA hearing will be held on January 14.
But right back Hodson is unconcerned with the outcome – he is concentrating fully on their forthcoming fixtures against St Johnstone away and Motherwell at home and wants Accies to clinch top flight safety this term by themselves.
“It is out of our control,” he said. “We have just got to focus on ourselves, not worry about what is going on with St Mirren and Kilmarnock and us losing those three points.
“We have to go out on get those three points on Wednesday. That takes us right back in the mix with Killie, Motherwell, St Johnstone. It is a massive game for us on Wednesday and also the following week against Motherwell. That is our main focus now – to go out there and get the points that we need.
“We need to be worrying about what we’re doing on the pitch. We know how big these next two games are. If we can get results there and the result goes our way, then that’s an added three points.
“But the main focus now is to go out against St Johnstone and Motherwell and get as many points out of those games as possible. Whatever happens on January 14 is a bonus for us.
“It’s tight at the bottom so you know what a result or two can do in terms of climbing the table. If we can get on a run of games and win the next two it puts us right up there. These next two are massive for us.”
Hodson added: “The lads have proved that this club belongs in the Premiership. I know everyone writes us off every season. That’s great. Let them write us off. At the end of the day, that’s perfect.
“If they want to think that fine – we know we’re better than that. We know we should be in this league and deserve to be on this league. That gives us the fire in our bellies to go and prove everyone wrong.
“We might be down and around it at the moment, but there’s a massive fight between three or four other clubs. We’re ready to go. We’re ready for the back half of the season now and are looking to pick up as many points as we can.”
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