GRANT GILLESPIE knows suspended John Routledge will be a miss for Hamilton this weekend.

GRANT GILLESPIE knows suspended John Routledge will be a miss for Hamilton this weekend.

But he has full confidence in Accies' squad depth and kick on against Dundee and end a two-game losing streak.

After being dumped out of the William Hill Scottish Cup last month by Partick Thistle, the New Douglas Park club were hammered 3-0 in Aberdeen at the weekend.

To make matters worse for Alex Neil's men midfielder Routledge received a straight red for a clash on Ryan Jack, meaning he will be unavailable for the visit of the Dee on Saturday.

But despite missing one of their key men for the SPFL Premiership game, team-mate Gillespie has faith in those around the squad to come in and perform in his place.

He said: "John has come back from injury and has played a vital role in the last couple of weeks.

"But I don't think he's done enough to merit a red card. The referee said he punched him [Jack] which I don't think happened.

"He'll be a loss but we know the squad will try and cope with it and get the three points on Saturday.

"It's bitterly disappointing to be beaten 3-0. We had a game plan but unfortunately it didn't go for us.

"We know we can play a lot better and we'll come in and pin-point where we went wrong and make sure we don't make the same mistakes against Dundee next week."

Despite being a goal down, Accies looked good value for a point going into the break at Pittodrie.

However, a second-half collapse proved crucial in their downfall as they slipped to fifth in the table.

And Gillespie is keen for Hamilton to get off to a bright start against Dundee if they are to prevail.

"We know the first goal in this league is crucial, unfortunately it didn't go in our favour against Aberdeen," he said.

"But we felt at half-time that we were well in the game. We then concede early doors in the second period from some slack play then the penalty killed it.

"There were a few things that went against us but first and foremost we need to look at ourselves and how we performed. We'll do that and hopefully we'll correct the mistakes.

"We'll take our medicine and move on."

ends