RYAN Fulton is adamant that Hamilton Accies’ players won’t allow the internet fraud which has left the club £750,000 out of pocket to affect their performances on the field. There was certainly little sign of that in the Lanarkshire derby against Motherwell on Saturday, even if an injury-hit Accies outfit sustained a fifth successive defeat. The Scotland Under-21 goalkeeper, who signed on at the SuperSeal stadium this summer after ten years at Liverpool, said the players had received assurances that they will be protected.

“We’ve got our job to do and that’s something for the people upstairs to deal with,” Fulton said. “We’ll just go about our own business on the park and it doesn’t affect us. We were given a heads-up about it but we were also given assurances that everything will be fine.”

With Gary Woods out injured, this was a first Premiership start for a player who had spent international week keeping goal for the Scotland Under-21s against England and Latvia. While he faced quite an aerial bombardment, he produced a few fine saves and had no chance with either goal.

“Obviously, the result wasn’t great but it was nice to get out there and play and now I hope I can keep my place in the team,” said Fulton. “Playing for the Under-21s gave me more confidence and it helped keep my eye in. Like I say, training is one thing but dealing with through balls at match pace is quite another.

"We’ve not had the results we wanted recently but we’ve got to kick on and go in fresh in our next two games, away to Ross County and at home to Partick Thistle. We’ll be looking to pick up three points in each of them. But we need to stop making the mistakes which are leading to the goals we’re losing. That’s our priority.”

Fulton faced a savage aerial bombardment from a muscular Motherwell side, and it was something the home team couldn't quite cope with all day long. While it felt a bit like League Two, the goalkeeper chalked it down to experience, and said he hoped to take a page from the book of his old Liverpool team-mate Danny Ward, who used a loan spell in the Scottish game at Aberdeen as a springboard for bigger things last season with Huddersfield.

“I’ve come here to gain experience and each team has its own style," said Fulton. "For example, Motherwell aren’t a passing side but what they do works for them. I just need to get as many games as possible under my belt.

“I still keep in touch with Danny," the goalkeeper added. "He had a great spell up here and he did really well again with Huddersfield last season – fingers crossed, he gets another chance to prove himself. Like me, he needs to play.”

While his manager Martin Canning cursed the lack of veteran leadership in his team - Darian McKinnon and Dougie Imrie excepted - in comparison with their Lanarkshire rivals, one rare shaft of light was a long-awaited debut from the bench for Antonio Rojano, the Argentinian striker whose international clearance finally came through last week.

"Antonio hadn’t played for six months, it was six months since his last game," said Canning. "We need to be a bit cautious with him in terms of getting up to speed and he did well for Boyd’s chance and won a good header as well. He can be pleased with his debut, that is for sure.

"There is maybe a leadership which I think is missing. I would take Darian and Dougie out of that, because I think they show that leadership, and Greg tries to have that as well. But we are a young squad. We are short in terms of experience and you can see that against Motherwell, apart from guys like Allan Campbell and [Chris] Cadden, they have that bit of experience, that extra bit of nous and what it buys you."