Hamilton 0-3 Hearts: Martin Canning riled by defensive lapses

Hamilton manager Martin Canning wants to strengthen his side defensively

Hamilton manager Martin Canning says he will consider dropping some of his defenders, after mistakes cost his side against Hearts.

Errors contributed to goals in Accies' 3-0 loss, just as they did in the Scottish Cup defeat to Motherwell.

Canning is trying to add to his squad, but has so far only signed midfielder Chrysovalantis Kozoronis and striker Marios Ogboe.

"It's so poor defensively. It's cost us every week," Canning told BBC Scotland.

"We have bodies out, we don't have players we can rotate with. It's something we'll need to take a look at for Saturday.

Hamilton are currently missing defender Ioannis Skondras, who was suspended for five games

"It's big boys playing men's football and they've got to stand up. If you make a mistake, you've got to make sure that in the next game you don't make it again. That's not the case just now."

Alex Gogic and Scott McMann were at fault for Hearts' first and third goals, while David Milinkovic beat the offside trap for the second goal.

Canning was frustrated with his players, having reinforced his message at half time that the game would be won and lost on "decision making and concentration".

"Hearts defended properly, they made good decisions and their concentration was there; we did the complete opposite," the Hamilton manager said.

Hearts midfielder Andy Irving, 17, and Hamilton's Lewis Ferguson, 18, faced each other

"It's another example of individual mistakes costing us points. It's really frustrating, but we need to dig deep and go again on Saturday.

"We'll speak about it again, but you can only do that for so often before you have to do something about it.

"Hopefully we'll get one or twos boys back and maybe one or two in. Maybe boys need to be taken out of it to regain their confidence, but we don't have that luxury at the moment."

Hearts manager Craig Levein watched his side extend their unbeaten run to 11 games, and reach 741 minutes since they last conceded a goal.

Hearts manager Craig Levein saw his side extend their unbeaten run to 11 games

"The first half was quite attritional. It was who could get the dominance in the match and generally in this league the first goal tends to make a big difference. That was the case," Levein said.

"We put them under pressure and made them make mistakes, which is a credit to our forward players. This is a hard place to come at any time and I don't think I've ever won 3-0 here.

"It's not the best surface in the league. The game is played slightly differently, the ball skids a lot more than it would do on grass, so it is difficult. I don't think it was a factor in the match."

Levein would not be drawn on the future of striker Isma Goncalves, who was left out the squad and looks to be on the verge of leaving Tynecastle. The Hearts manager would only say that Goncalves was "otherwise engaged".