Dundee boss Neil McCann refused to hide from his team’s league position after watching his side slump to the foot of the Premiership with defeat at home to Hamilton.
Despite the dismissal of Massimo Donati, goals from Ioannis Skondras, David Templeton and Antonio Raul Rojano were enough for the points.
A-Jay Leitch-Smith’s penalty could not keep Dundee off the bottom and McCann said: “I’m aware of the league table.
“I don’t like being down at the bottom of the table. I’m trying to change things here so that we’re not looking down in that direction.
“All the other teams who’ve started to come above us now have been through a difficult period and we’re experiencing one now.
“The only way to get out of it is to get the boys to be brave and still believe in what we’re doing.
“This is when you need to use a lot of your man-management skills to gather the boys and make sure they become stronger characters.
“Our game has been really attractive to watch without getting results but we need to do the ugly side of things as well.
“I’m not going to roll over. We’ll get back to work to try and become harder to beat.
“We’ve got a young group and this is when they become men, when it’s difficult at times.
“Without stating the obvious we need to work on our defensive side of things. There’s a real sense of disappointment because the goals we lost were very poor.
“Again we were in control of the match and then we get done by a sucker-punch at the first one just before half-time.
“It’s a bit indicative of our season that we’re losing such soft goals.”
Skondras headed in Dougie Imrie’s cross for Hamilton’s 39th-minute opener and another Imrie delivery allowed Templeton to hammer in the second.
Leitch-Smith scored from the spot after Skondras handled and Donati collected a second booking for kicking the ball away, but Rojano’s tap-in settled any late nerves.
Hamilton boss Martin Canning said: “It’s never easy coming up to Dens Park so we’re absolutely delighted.
“Our most experienced player, Massimo, has made a naive mistake, which could have cost us but he owes the boys one for digging even deeper.
“It’s a moment of madness. He should know better despite being frustrated.
“I’ve told Massimo in front of the rest of the boys that he owes them all a beer!”
