MARTIN CANNING insists he won't allow his Hamilton side to coast to the end of the campaign as he sets his sights on a top-six finish.

After storming out of the blocks in a remarkable start to life in the Premiership, the last few weeks have been tough going for Accies and new boss Canning.

Defeat to St Mirren last time out was their eighth league loss in nine outings, and they are now level on points with St Johnstone.

With seventh-placed Dundee just two points behind, the visit of in-form Ross County this weekend is a vital match for Canning and his squad.

Hamilton's place as one of the success stories of the season is already secured, but the New Douglas Park boss won't accept anything other than total commitment from his players.

Canning said: "I said after the St Mirren game that you could see they were fighting for something and we were going through the motions a bit and that we had relaxed because we had done our hard work and stayed in the league.

"That is not the case, that is not how I work. I will always be aiming for the boys to achieve something. There will never be a game that means nothing.

"Every player, with a new manager and new staff in, is playing to stay in the team and stay here next year. I am going to have guys I want to bring in and they have got to put in the work on the pitch.

"They can't coast the season out and I said that to them after the St Mirren game. I wasn't happy that you could see that hunger in St Mirren that you couldn't see in us

"It can happen at every level, whether you are Real Madrid or Hamilton Accies. When you have got something to fight for, you get that five or ten per cent extra out of yourself.

"That is something we have done really well, we have got that extra percentage through the whole year.

"We can't drop that, we have got to be at it every week and that five or ten per cent is the difference for us."

The transition from player to manager has been a frustrating one for Canning so far as he has collected just one point from a possible 27 in the Premiership.

The 33-year-old is still a regular at the heart of the Hamilton rearguard and it will take time for the lines between 'Canzo' and 'gaffer' to become clearer for the Accies squad.

He said: "There will be times when you say things in the heat of the moment and you say things that, in hindsight, you wish you didn't say. I know what motivates one that doesn't motivate another.

"That is the advantage of having played with them for a long time. The disadvantage is that I have been a player and not a manager, so there is a turnaround in psychology from their point of view, and mine. It is part of the adjustment process.

"It was the same with Alex Neil. I was still calling him Al and some were calling him gaffer.

"I won't enforce [the players calling me gaffer]. It is something that, over time, they will do and the new boys will.

"It is part and parcel of having been in the changing room and then coming out of it."