KEVIN CUTHBERT admits Hamilton need a more rugged rearguard if they are to haul themselves up the Irn-Bru First Division standings.

Accies went down 2-0 at home to Partick Thistle on Saturday as a deflected Conrad Balatoni effort and superb late strike from sub Christie Elliot gave Alan Archibald's team the victory.

Next up for Billy Reid's side is a tricky trip to in-form Livingston tonight before they face Falkirk on Saturday afternoon.

It is a huge few days for the Lanarkshire side, who have fallen to eighth place in the table and are just five points above lowly Dumbarton having played the same amount of games as the Sons.

Victory in West Lothian would be a timely boost and keeper Cuthbert knows they need to improve their defensive showings.

He said: "Livingston and Falkirk were meant to play each other on Saturday but the game was off so they will probably be fresh.

"But we go into the game knowing that we can compete. We need to stop giving away soft goals, I think we did that on Saturday.

"Going into the Livingston game, we need to be tougher and tougher to beat. We were all disappointed after the game, we feel we could have got a draw out of it at least but credit to Partick, they probably deserved it in the end.

"There are 10 games to go and we are going to need a few wins. At the end of the day, teams are going to win games.

"There will be weeks where we win and other teams won't win."