Hamilton Academical v Arbroath: Can John Rankin's side maintain Scottish Championship place?

John Rankin has revitalised a Hamilton side who looked doomed a few weeks ago

While pinning a favourite for the Scottish Championship title remains an impossible task, the race to avoid the drop is equally competitive.

Hamilton Academical appeared down and out at the beginning of the calendar year, six points adrift at the foot of the table and without a league win in nine games.

If anyone listened to manager John Rankin, though, they'd know he had more than enough belief that his side were far from resigned to relegation.

And as Accies gear up to welcome Arbroath on Friday, they are now above Dick Campbell's side. After a remarkable run, they have managed to rip up the script and shift a point above the Red Lichties.

The question is now, though, can they continue their revival?

'We can work with this'

There wasn't a lot to cheer of over the festive period for Accies fans. Only one skelping was endured in that near three-month run without a league win, though, when leaders Queen's Park ran riot at Hampden.

There were near misses that dealt disappointment, but sparked optimism. Defeats by a one-goal margin by Ayr United, who have yo-yoed at the opposite end of the table, drew praise.

While results were not forthcoming in the league, Accies were continually producing in the cups.

Add in Rankin's activity in the January transfer window, bringing defensive experience in the form of Dylan McGowan and attacking youth in Dylan Stephenson and Connor Smith, and the towel had far from been thrown in.

"I came in on the Friday, we got beat by Ayr on the Saturday, and that was my first look at the players and the group as a whole," said McGowan, who was immediately made captain on his on-loan arrival from Kilmarnock.

"I remember coming off the pitch thinking 'that was a lot better than I thought it was going to be'. There was a real togetherness, work ethic and team spirit where I thought, 'yeah, we can work with this'."

'We're starting to see the benefits'

Work with that and then some. Since that debut defeat for McGowan, there have been victories against Greenock Morton and Partick Thistle, back-to-back wins against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and a draw with Dundee.

Queen's again proved a game too far last weekend, where a 4-1 defeat was suffered. But all the work before that pulled Accies off the base of the table for the first time since early November. They are the Championship's form side.

"With young players, its about trying to build their confidence, I think they can lose it really quickly. We've been slowly building it up in the last few weeks and I think we're starting to see the benefits of that," said McGowan.

Only Inverness have been worse of late than Cove Rangers and Arbroath. The bottom three are separated by three points, with Accies in the middle.

A win under the floodlights in Lanarkshire would see Accies out of the relegation places, ahead of Cove's trip to face second-place Dundee.

Rankin's side are far from escaping out of the woods unscathed, but with 13 points in their last six, Accies are on a timely rise.