DAVE MACKINNON is confident Hamilton have the quality and the mentality to preserve their Premiership status this term.

Accies head into their clash with Rangers this weekend second bottom of the standings as a poor run of form has piled the pressure on boss Martin Canning once again.

Since beating the Light Blues at Ibrox in November, Canning’s side have won just two of their ten league outings, while they also suffered a Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Lanarkshire rivals Motherwell.

Canning lost the services of Greg Docherty, Michael Devlin, Grant Gillespie and Massimo Donati during the January transfer window.

That came just weeks after the club were the victims of a £1million fraud that saw them suffer a significant financial blow and forced directors to put their hand in their pockets.

But MacKinnon believes there is enough talent on and off the park at the SuperSeal Stadium to ensure Hamilton retain their place in the Premiership once again.

He told SportTimes: “It has been difficult for them and it wasn’t a great end to 2017. There were the financial problems behind the scenes and they have lost some really good players.

“Mikey Devlin is another one and once he gets fit he is an exceptional talent that will go on and do very good things in the game.

“It was a difficult time and they had injuries to key players, the likes of Dougie Imrie and Darian MacKinnon are big personalities in the dressing room.

“But I think they are good enough and the people behind the scenes – like Ronnie MacDonald and Les Gray – are very strong characters and they will support Martin all they can.

“He has been through this experience since he took over as manager. They have got strong people in the dressing room and strong people on the board and there is a real spirit there to drive them forward.

“Hamilton have got two games in hand and they are capable of winning games. If they can get four points from their next two games, that would get them back on track again.”