WHEN Antons Kurakins was in the Celtic youth team, he dreamt of one day playing his football in front of tens of thousands of Hoops fans at Celtic Park.

Unfortunately for the full-back, when his dream became reality it turned rather rapidly into a nightmare, as he was part of the Hamilton side hit for eight last Wednesday evening.

Kurakins isn’t one to dwell on the past though, and it is just as well for his side, as they look to continue their rehabilitation after a goalless draw with Hearts on Sunday in the crucial relegation battle with Kilmarnock this weekend.

“Obviously when I was young at Celtic that’s not how I pictured playing at Celtic Park to be, but that’s football,” Kurakins said.

“The result at Celtic Park affected us all. It was an embarrassment and not acceptable at all, but that game is done and we have to move on from it.

“It doesn’t help us to move forward if we dwell on the 8-1 game, so we have to forget it.

“It’s how you respond to it and bounce back that is important.

“It was very important for us as a team after an 8-1 loss to respond and keep a clean sheet, it was a real boost.

“The Kilmarnock game is really important for us and so will the rest of the games between now and the end of the season.

“We really need to fight for every single point now, because the league is so tight.

“Even the top six is not that far away, but we’re not thinking about that right now. The main focus for us is to take things game-by-game.

“We’re looking over our shoulder a bit just now, but we just have to focus on our next opponent and battle for every point that we can get.”

Kurakins believes that there is a determination in the Hamilton dressing room to do everything they can to avoid the drop that is shared by everyone involved with the club.

Despite the embarrassment of some recent results, he says that if Accies do ultimately go down, it will not be without a fight.

“Everyone here at the club – the players, staff and fans – are desperate to stay in the division,"

“If we lose this game we will be in the play-off position, so that is a huge motivation for us all to get the win on Saturday.

“Whatever happens though there are still many games to play and we need to take it game-by-game.

“It’s all down to us. We’ve proved this season already that we can compete well against every team in this league.

“Just now we’re having a bad spell, but we know that we can play a lot better.

“It’s important for every player here to stay in the division because we are all motivated to play and compete at a high level.

“I know that if I’m not playing in the Premiership then I might not be called up for the national team, so it’s very important from a personal point of view as well.

“I still have a year left on my contract after this, and I wouldn’t want to spend that in the division below.

“We’re not thinking like that though, we’re still right in the mix and it’s all in our hands.

“At the start of the season we were going really well and when you get good results and play well then everything is really easy.

“When you have a harder spell like this then that is a true sense of your character, and I think we are certainly testing that now.”