JOHN RANKIN faced pelters from raging Accies fans after a gutting defeat.
Ton pulled off a smash and grab win when Cammy Keay and Ali Crawford both scored in the last four minutes.
John Rankin is feeling the heat in North Lanarkshire[/caption]
Fans were calling for the manager’s axe after Accies crashed to a late defeat against Morton[/caption]
It leaves Hamilton deep in a relegation fight and their supporters were calling for the manager’s head at full time.
Boss Rankin said: “It’s part and parcel of the job. I’ve been in tough situations before.
“I can look at myself in the mirror and know I’m working hard to put out the best version of this team as I can.
“I’m not going to chuck the towel in for anybody.
“At half time we should have been home and dry, we played some great football.
“The amount of chances we missed were criminal.”
Fuming fans also hit out at director of football Gerry Strain at full-time with many calling for the key boardroom figure to join Rankin out the door.
Footage from the stands show the moment punters chanted “Gerry Strain get out of our club” as things got heated inside the ZLX Stadium following the latest defeat.
Kevin O’Hara and Charlie Telfer were handed shirts to start for Accies while Oli Shaw and Stuart McKinstry were dumped on the bench.
Morton started the game in the ultimate middle ground – seven points off both promotion and relegation play-off spots.
Grant Gillespie – in for last week’s red card bad boy Dylan Corr – was the only swap from the Ayr win.
Accies striker O’Hara should have done better in the second minute when he scuffed at his shot when he should have been testing Ton goalie Ryan Mullen.
Telfer then struck a beauty which rebounded off the bar in the 13th minute.
And O’Hara and Scott Robinson were wasteful a minute later when they were both denied at close range.
Accies were battering on the door as Kyle MacDonald’s shot forced a good save out of Mullen just after the half hour mark.
And Stevie Bradley went close AGAIN just before the break when his shot from the edge of the box trickled just wide.
Dougie Imrie got one over his old team with a late winner[/caption]
It just didn’t seem to be O’Hara’s day as his shot in the 62nd minute was deflected away for a corner.
The Accies were starting to get restless with the wasted chances and screamed for striker sub Shaw to be brought on.
And they were still left raging with four minutes left when Ton sub Keay fired home a lovely volley to snatch all three points.
And the pain was made worse deep into injury time when Crawford struck a free kick beauty from the edge of the box.
Ton boss Dougie Imrie was delighted with the win over his old club.
He said: “It was a rollercoaster of a game. We’ve played a lot worse than that and won. In the first half we were miles off it.
“It was great to see Cammy get his first goal. He’s only a baby so I don’t want to put any pressure on him.”
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