Hamilton Accies' second half display shows we need reinforcements, says John Rankin after cup exit

dailyrecord.co.uk:

John Rankin reckons Hamilton's disappointing second half display against Queen's Park that cost them a place in the knockout stages of the Premier Sports Cup is clear evidence they need to strengthen.But the New Douglas Park boss is still buoyed by their first half showing and says that must now be the standard for the squad this season.Accies came firing out of the blocks in their Group H clash and scored after four minutes through Andy Winter.They passed up a succession of chances after that in an impressive opening 45 minutes that had Owen Coyle's Spiders on the backfoot, and that came back to bite them when Jake Davidson equalised for the Spiders 12 minutes from time.A bonus point in the 5-3 penalty shootout win that followed proved futile as Accies finished second in the table, but out-with the best three runners-up placings needed to progress.And ahead of the Championship campaign kicking off at home to Morton next week, Rankin said: "Today was an example that we need players to help the ones that are here, so hopefully we can do that."We need to add quality to the group, people that are going to push for starting positions."I've always said quantity isn't as important as quality."I don't know if we'll get anything over the line for next Saturday, but we are trying."I think everyone is looking for the same thing so right now I'm not too keen on saying [which positions] but I'd quite like to strengthen in a few areas."The huge disappointment today is we haven't got into the next round of the cup, but we've got to look at the positives of the first 45 minutes, the chances we created - that was really pleasing."Then we go and win the penalty shootout so that keeps the momentum going."But at the same time it's