Hamilton boss Canning reveals Darian MacKinnon has apologised for red card
Darian MacKinnon has apologised for his "silly" sending off against Motherwell which sees him miss Saturday's crunch game against Ross County, Hamilton boss Martin Canning has revealed.
The 31-year-old midfielder received a red card for making a gesture towards a section of the home support on Wednesday night, which left Accies with 10 men for the last 16 minutes of the goalless draw at Fir Park.
Canning, whose side are three points above bottom club Inverness, said: "Darian has apologised and knows he was silly to do something like that.
"He is an experienced guy. Darian knows he has let the boys down, he has let himself down and I wouldn't expect that to ever happen again.
"The biggest blow is that you lose him for an important game but he feels that the way we are all feeling that.
"He has been silly and we will deal with it and move on.
"Guys like Darian play on the edge so it doesn't take much to push him over it, and one thing he has done really well, particularly in the last 12 months, is that he has controlled that a lot better.
"It was a lapse, a judgement error, which has cost him and cost us and he knows that."
With two games remaining before the split, only five points separate the bottom five teams.
Canning is anticipating the fight for survival to go all the way to the end of the season.
He said: "Our games are against the teams around us. Every game becomes bigger than the game previous.
"I can't see how any team can take themselves out of it, unless you can win three, four or five in a row.
"I would imagine it will go right to the wire.
"It is one win and a draw against Ross County this season and we need to try to beat them again."
Craig Curran has urged Ross County fans to get behind the team as they continue their bid for survival.
Jim McIntyre's side beat Dundee 2-1 on Tuesday night with a last-minute Liam Boyce penalty to take them into eighth place in the table, three points behind Kilmarnock in seventh but still just six above bottom side Inverness.
However, the solitary 'McIntyre Out' banner held up by some Staggies fans did not go unnoticed by Curran and his team-mates.
Ahead of the trip to second-bottom Hamilton on Saturday, the 27-year-old striker, who joined the Highland club in January, 2015, said: "The fans have been unbelievable since I have been here.
"It is such a great place to play, such a proper family club, you can feel everyone is together.
"Things like Tuesday night, the banner, was a little bit disappointing because we need to stay together on this.
"The amount of work that goes on behind closed doors is a lot.
"We care. That is one thing I can guarantee the fans. We care.
"We are fighting away every day, we are putting in the extra hours.
"So it would be nice if we could stick together and not see things like that. The players can see stuff like that when we are playing.
"Normally the fans are tremendous, they are right behind us and cheering us on.
"So it would be nice if we could stick together and push on and get up to seventh and finish strong."
Source: PAR
