Copyright dailyrecord
John Rankin says his Hamilton Accies players must feel like punch bags after being hit by another points deduction blow. But in an impassioned interview, he has vowed they will fight back from their latest SPFL punishment which has seen them knocked off the top of League One. In a year in which the club has been hit with a 15-point deduction for multiple SPFL rule breaches that ultimately relegated them last season and a transfer embargo at the start of this season, the club suffered its latest setback on Wednesday. The SPFL announced they were enforcing a six-point deduction and £22,000 fine for various rule breaches relating to their transfer embargo and alleged payments to players who were on amateur contracts. Accies have now been deducted 22 points in the last six months and this comes off the back of the SPFL withholding £70,000 over fears the club will be unable to fulfil its fixtures this season. The club has confirmed they are appealing their latest sanction, but the impact of it all took its toll last night as the club fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Queen of the South, seeing them slip to seventh in the table. And gutted Rankin said: "Sometimes I feel the players are like a punch bag, just continually getting whacked. "But I have got their back, the staff have got their back and we are all as one. "It has to be that way and it will continue to be that way. "It will take a wee while to pick them up, of course it will, but we need to get back on the horse and go again. "We won't lose belief and we won't bicker amongst ourselves. "We were on a good run and to get hit with that is difficult to lift ourselves from. "There are sleepless nights. When it happened last season we were at a different end of the table. "But I don't look at the table because I know until the season finishes,you don't know what is going to happen. It is not a nice way to live. "After victories before, you are always scared that something is coming and it can't be that way, having that worry and doubt in your head. "We need to overcome that very quickly and we will come out of the other side of it. That togetherness will see us through. "I've got to give the players tremendous credit. We've been deducted 22 points in six months - that's more points than some teams collect in a season - and it is hellish, but the mentality to overcome another hurdle is there." On the night a Jack Stott strike after 18 minutes and a Cale Loughrey own goal in 67 minutes had Queens 2-0 up, before Connor Smith's strike just a few moments later proved to be just a consolation. Rankin said his players had started the week in high spirits, sitting top of the table, and he admits he feels for his squad continually seeing their efforts on the pitch impacted by the actions of those off it. He added: "The full week wasn't difficult. We came in on Monday and the place was bouncing, it really was. "The boys were in a good place, full of momentum, full of belief, full of courage. And it was the same on Tuesday - they trained like absolute monsters. "Then Wednesday was the scheduled day off and to be hit with a point deduction hit everybody. It is tough to take. "We've picked ourselves up before after previous points deductions, appeals, embargoes and now another point deduction. "We knew there was going to be a hangover, so it was about how quickly we could overcome that. "I thought in the first 45 minutes we played as if we had a hangover - and that isn't any fault of the players. "It is one of those ones where you know we are better than what we produced in the first half and that's why we are frustrated. "But I totally understand it and I have total sympathy for them. "In the second half, we flipped it and we tried to get a bit of energy into it. "Just after we conceded the second goal, Smudger [Smith] scored a great goal and then we've got two chances to get another. Oli and Macca had chances and if we'd scored, the momentum would have changed in our favour."
