Martin Canning insists that his Hamilton players won’t be affected by Inverness manager Richie Foran’s mind games ahead of their relegation day of reckoning.

Foran claimed immediately after his side’s victory over Dundee on Wednesday night that all the pressure was now on Hamilton to defeat Neil McCann’s men to avoid the drop.

But with their destiny still in their own hands, Canning reckons that is the Highlanders who should be feeling the heat ahead of their own match against Motherwell.

“I think Richie is doing what you would expect him to, and is trying to shift the pressure off of his team onto our team,” said Canning.

“I don’t think that’s the way it is at all, the pressure is still very much on them.

“They’ve got to go and win the game to give themselves a chance, but if we go and do our job and win our game then it doesn’t matter what they do.

“For us, it’s about going out and concentrating on ourselves, getting our performance right and winning the game.

“If I was in Richie’s position, I think I’d be doing the same thing. You’re trying to take all the pressure off of you and put it on someone else.

“There is still massive pressure on them though, because they are the team that is bottom of the league and regardless of what they do, if we win it doesn’t matter.

“We obviously still have pressure because we have to win the game, it’s as simple as that. We can’t leave anything to chance, but the pressure is still on Inverness.

“I don’t think that mind games work on the opposition, but maybe with your own squad.

“Richie will be trying to take the pressure off of his own players, he’s not trying to get inside our heads, he wants to get into his own players’ heads.

“For us, yes there is pressure, it’s a massive game. But we have to make sure we go and handle that and get the three points.”

Hamilton’s cause ahead of today’s critical game has been aided by the recovery of striker Alex D’Acol and captain Michael Devlin from injury, after the pair sat out the midweek defeat at Ross County.

And Canning has no concerns about the mindset of his skipper, after fans contacted the club to express their support for Devlin on the back of personal abuse he received after the defeat to Motherwell last Saturday.

“We spoke about the abuse he got, but it was one guy,” said Canning. “We’ve had so many emails this week from people to let Michael know that they are 150% behind him.

“Most fans are saying that it was one person’s opinion, he is doing great and that we need to keep fighting and stick together. All of the things you would expect from normal fans.

“Scott Struthers was showing me them and Michael will see them as well. That’s part of the game, you’re always going to get things like that.

“Perhaps because our crowds aren’t the biggest then at the end of the games you hear everything, but I’m sure if you went to Celtic Park last season then with 60,000 fans all shouting different things you don’t hear the one guy who is being personal.

“Here, you hear everything and you see everything. People shout these things at football stadiums all over the world, and it’s never nice to see it happening, but it’s one person in a crowd of 5000.

“That won’t be accepted here though for any player to take personal abuse, it’s not on, but it’s happened and it’s done.

“The boys know that the majority of fans are behind them.”